The mountain path is a relatively straight-forward one. There are very few deviating paths, and even when there are, it's obvious which path is the correct one. They're well-worn and less overgrown with grass and shrubbery. It's easy to navigate, and it's very difficult to get lost.

Or it would be, except Dingo is an idiot who prefers to rely on a glorified mini-axe instead of the literal computer program whose very name is derived from navigation.

"I would rather have been stuck with quite literally anyone else," Raika mutters to himself as he follows along behind the utterly oblivious Dingo. "Lan, maybe. He knows how to follow a damn map. Chaud would be even better, his cat-abilities would be insanely useful. I'd even take Maylu - she seems like she'd be the type to complain about having to walk so much, but at least she wouldn't get us hopelessly lost."

"What about Mimic?" SearchMan asks, reminding Raika that his Navi can still hear him muttering even if Dingo can't.

"She was kidnapped," Raika reminds him, somewhat testily. Then he pauses and frowns. "Although . . . perhaps being captured by the Zoanoroids would be more preferable to this . . ."

"It really says something about your opinion of this odd human that you'd rather be in the hands of the enemy than stuck wandering an alternate reality with him," SearchMan comments.

Raika sighs. "I don't have anything against him, personally," he admits. "It's just . . ." He gestures helplessly to Dingo, who has also stopped and is now muttering his usual incantation to his tomahawk. "Look at him! He's an idiot!"

"Sounds personal to me."

Raika shoots his Navi a half-hearted glare, then forces his feet to move and steps up beside Dingo just as the boy lets out a desperate scream and falls to his knees.

Several moments pass by.

" . . . Having trouble?" Raika hesitantly asks.

"I don't know where we are!" Dingo wails, slamming the blade of his tomahawk into the ground with so much force that it gets stuck there. It takes him a second to yank it out, and then he holds it up to the sky like that's going to help him navigate any better. "Spirits, please, help me!"

Raika catches sight of TomahawkMan standing on Dingo's shoulder, looking utterly unimpressed, and sighs. Looks like they're about to get even more lost.

Why did I agree to leave navigation up to this idiot? Raika wonders, as Dingo gets to his feet and starts muttering to his tomahawk again. Oh, wait, I remember. I didn't. Dingo just went ahead of me and I had no choice but to follow, or I'd risk getting left behind.

Seriously. He could have gotten stuck with literally anyone. It just had to be this guy.

Dingo hurls his tomahawk into the air, and it spins rapidly, catching the sun on the metal of its blade as it goes. The brief flash of light makes Raika wince and shade his eyes, and then he sees the most bizarre thing.

The tomahawk ends up flying in every single direction. It bounces off a nearby tree, clangs off the cliff wall a few metres away, slices through an odd patch of random green sticks that look like bamboo but could just as easily be something else entirely, and then vanishes into the bushes.

Clunk.

Raika frowns. That . . . did not sound good.

"Hey, TomahawkMan, can you track where it went?" Dingo asks, glancing at his Navi.

TomahawkMan gives him an extremely impressive deadpan look.

" . . . I'll take that as a 'no'," Dingo decides, and then heads off into the bushes.

"Wait!" Raika yelps, scrambling after him. Dingo may be an idiot, but they have to stick together, unfortunately.

They follow an overgrown path that doesn't even deserve the designation. The only signs of Dingo's tomahawk are the little cuts they find on trees, and leaves sliced in half, but the overgrown path isn't very long and within moments they're emerging into a large clearing.

A cliff encircles half of the clearing on the far side, and a small, thin waterfall gushes down into a small pool between some rocks. Grass is sparse here, just barely covering the rocky ground. And in the middle of this clearing sits a giant boulder the size of a house, which is already odd enough on its own, but it looks strangely smooth as well, with very few cracks.

Aside from where Dingo's tomahawk is buried in it, at least. Raika's not sure what confuses him more - the fact that Dingo apparently has the arm-strength needed to achieve something like this, or the fact that his tomahawk is still in one piece despite its blade being buried in rock.

"Well, that failed," Raika says idly. "Can we try using an actual map this time?"

"What map?" Dingo looks at him blankly.

Raika stares at him. "The map we traded for back in that town. You insisted on having it since you're apparently the navigator."

Dingo purses his lips and kicks his foot absently.

"You don't have the map anymore, do you," Raika says, slumping.

"Nope," Dingo agrees cheerfully. "I traded it to a guy who said he'd sharpen my tomahawk for it!"

Raika sighs heavily and wishes, not for the first time, that he'd gotten stuck with literally anyone else.

He watches Dingo climb up the rock - it would be impressive if he hadn't seen Mimic scaling a tall building a few weeks ago, while dodging live electricity at the same time - and yank at his tomahawk until it finally comes free, and with a startled yelp, Dingo plummets to the ground and lands on his backside. He lies there groaning for a second, and then bounces to his feet as if absolutely nothing happened.

Well, Dingo may be an idiot, but you have to admit his survivability is astonishing. And nothing short of impressive.

Then Raika hears crumbling, and his first instinct is to protect civilians, so he grabs Dingo and drags them both away just as the smooth rock smashes to pieces.

It reveals an oddly-accurate statue of a hand. The thumb and three of its fingers are curled into a fist, but the index finger is pointing toward the sky.

" . . . What," Raika says, blinking. He struggles to form words, and only manages another one. "How?"

"Maybe it's trying to say 'look up at the sky'?" SearchMan suggests.

"You really think a huge chunk of rock is trying to talk to us?"

"We've seen weirder," his Navi points out. "At this point, I'm fairly certain nothing can surprise me anymore."

The hand crumbles into a statue of a simple, child-like depiction of a bird.

" . . . I stand corrected," SearchMan says.

The bird crumbles, and in its place is now a plane.

"Does this reality run on nonsense?" Raika wonders.

"I think it's kinda cool," Dingo says.

"Of course you would."

The plane crumbles now, leaving nothing but a small rocky platform, and on top of that platform is the strangest thing yet.

An old man. Just sitting there, legs crossed as if he's meditating, eyes closed and completely relaxed, apparently oblivious to the fact that he just emerged from a shapeshifting rock like a bird from an egg. Which is ironic considering one of the shapes the rock took was a bird.

Even Dingo doesn't seem capable of reacting to this. He just gapes at the old man, completely speechless, and TomahawkMan stares as well, too shocked to be annoyed or even remotely exasperated about the absurdity of this situation.

After several moments of silent staring, Raika and Dingo manage to pluck up the courage - or in Raika's case, the will - to step closer to the old man on the rocky platform. Dingo creeps a little closer than Raika and leans forward, inspecting the old man nervously.

"Is . . . is he dead?" Dingo wonders.

"I can detect life signs from him," SearchMan offers.

The old man twitches, startling them, and then raises his arms above his head and opens his mouth in a cracking yawn.

Dingo almost falls over from shock, while Raika just stares. The old man was sleeping? Inside a rock? A million and one questions are burning in his mind, but he's too confused to ask any of them.

The old man slips off the rocky platform and ambles over to the small waterfall nearby, taking out a toothbrush - an actual toothbrush. This is getting even more absurd by the moment, and it doesn't help when the old man starts cleaning his teeth with the running water.

It's rude to interrupt people while they're doing something, especially something like this, so Raika keeps quiet and waits until the old man has stopped cleaning his teeth before opening his mouth. The old man gives him no time to speak, however, because he immediately climbs back onto the rocky platform and crosses his legs back into a meditation pose once again.

"Time for a nap," the old says, in a thin, croaking voice.

Dingo actually does fall over this time. Raika doesn't, if only because his pride keeps him on his feet.

"You're really gonna sleep again!?" Dingo exclaims, climbing to his feet.

The old man looks at them - or Raika assumes he does, because his eyes remain closed - and makes an inquisitive noise. "Who are you two?"

Raika frowns. Did this old man truly not notice they were here? Is he that oblivious, or did sleeping in a rock - literally - mess up his brain functions or something?

A faint breeze blows through the trees, rustling the leaves and bushes, and the old man raises his head as if he's listening to it. After a few moments, he nods.

"I see," he says. "Hm. You two are very lost, aren't you?"

Raika and Dingo stare at him. Out of the corner of his eyes, Raika sees SearchMan exchanging an incredulous glance with TomahawkMan, and he briefly wonders what the Navis make of this strange old human who sleeps in rocks and apparently knows that they're lost even though they've barely said a word to him.

The old man slides off the rocky platform and shuffles over to them. Standing at his full height, he's about half Raika's size and even smaller than Dingo - maybe about the same size as Mimic and Chaud, actually. This is a very small old man, indeed. Then again, Mimic and Chaud are small for their age, so . . . it's not as if Raika's never met any short people before.

. . . Mimic and Chaud would probably kill him if they ever heard him calling them short. Or Chaud would kill him, at least.

"Don't worry," the old man says, oblivious to Raika's internal thoughts. "Just leave everything to me."

Dingo jumps on that excitedly. "R-really!?" he exclaims, eyes shining.

"I have doubts about this-" Raika begins, but Dingo speaks over him.

"Thanks, old man!"

"Dingo-" Raika tries again.

"We've been wandering around for days ever since we left the last town," Dingo explains.

"That was entirely your fault," Raika bites out, but once again he's ignored.

"Do you know if there's another town anywhere nearby?" Dingo eagerly asks the old man.

"Oh, of course there is," the old man replies, with a serene nod. "I can take you straight to it, in fact."

" . . . Why do I even bother?" Raika mutters.

"Because you're stubborn," SearchMan replies, and Raika shoots him a glare.


The old man makes them carry him, of course. Raika knew there'd be a catch of some sort - only people like Lan help others for free, and this old man is definitely not Lan.

But he supposes it does make sense. This is an old man, who likely wouldn't be able to keep up with them while they're travelling through this mountain path. That still doesn't mean they're not annoyed about being forced to carry him, given how he more or less demanded the service in return for helping them get to the next town. Well, what the old man actually said was 'I'm helping you, so you have to be courteous to me' when they asked why they have to carry him, which is essentially the same thing.

The only other issue that stems from this . . . absurd situation is whether or not they're actually going the right way. Raika and Dingo take turns carrying the old man as he directs them through the mountain path, and they ask him constantly if they're going the right way, and every single time, the old man's answer is, without fail, 'no doubt about it'.

Raika has doubts. Raika has very serious doubts.

But he doesn't voice them, because he doesn't know the way to the next town any more than Dingo does, and they no longer have a map because Dingo apparently traded it away to get his tomahawk sharpened. Even if they did have a map, Raika suspects they would currently be so far off it that not even SearchMan would be able to figure out where the hell they are.

So this old man is literally their only option. If carrying him is the only price for finding their way, then Raika is willing to pay that price. However reluctant he may be.

At the very least, they find another use for Dingo's tomahawk while trudging through an overgrown part of the path. He cuts down the tall grass and through the shrubbery easily, so perhaps getting his tomahawk sharpened wasn't a bad idea after all. Raika's still annoyed that Dingo traded away their only map - without telling him! - but at least there's that.

"Sir," Raika huffs out, a little tired from having to walk, climb, and on one occasion swim all this way, "I'd like to re-confirm . . . are you sure this is the right way?"

The only response he gets is a snore so loud that it doesn't sound real.

"For the love of . . ." Cursing the old man under his breath, Raika turns his attention back to plodding on the overgrown path.

He grunts when he abruptly walks into Dingo, and staggers back a step.

"What the hell, Dingo?" Raika snaps.

"R-Raika," Dingo squeaks, and Raika pauses because he's never heard Dingo sound so terrified before. "L-look there!"

Raika follows Dingo's pointing finger and freezes.

Up ahead of them, stalking out of the shadows of the trees, is the biggest cat that Raika has ever seen in his entire life. Thick-furred and thick-muscled, with long fangs protruding from its top lip, and gleaming, menacing eyes fixed directly on them. Heavy paws crunch the dead leaves and grass underfoot, and there are long, sharp claws perfectly visible on its toes. Its lips rise in a faint snarl, a deep growl rumbles from its throat, and Raika's heard that sound from the twins and ProtoMan more than enough times to know what it means.

They are in very, very serious trouble.

"Is that a sabre-tooth tiger?" Raika breathes.

"I don't think it can be considered a tiger, since it doesn't have any stripes," SearchMan says doubtfully.

Raika, momentarily distracted from the giant angry cat ahead of them, gives his Navi an incredulous look. "That is not the issue here."

The sabre-tooth tiger-that-might-not-be-a-tiger lets out an ear-splitting roar.

"Run!" Raika yelps, immediately taking his own advice.

He knows Dingo's following him because he can hear the panicked screaming behind him, so he doesn't need to worry about that, and he focuses on running in the opposite direction as fast as he can manage. Which is very fast, and the desire to not get eaten by an angry predator helps to make his feet move even faster.

They run until the sound of the sabre-tooth tiger-whatever is no longer behind them, and then they keep running because there's no way either of them are willing to stick around long enough to find out whether or not ridiculous stealth abilities are universal to all cats, not just ProtoMan and the twins.

Of course, the speed thing is probably universal. Something in Raika's mind tells him that the sabre-tooth tiger-thing should have easily caught up to them even if they were running very fast in the opposite direction, so the logical conclusion is that the giant cat wasn't giving chase in the first place and was more than likely just trying to scare them off its territory, but even so, they don't stop running until they're well away from the sabre-tooth tiger-thing.

Raika can't run forever, and neither can Dingo, so they're forced to stop near the edge of a cliff. Luckily, it's a very open area, so if the giant cat did follow them at all, they'll be able to see it coming easily. Whether or not they'll be able to escape a second time is up for debate.

"That," Raika pants, "was terrifying."

"I like cats as much as anyone else, but I think I'll stick to admiring them from a distance," Dingo agrees.

The old man on Raika's back sighs. "You two are young, but very unreliable," he says.

Raika almost snaps at him. Exactly who was it who was literally asleep while they almost got eaten by a giant cat? But he says nothing and does nothing, aside from shooting the old man a brief glare. If they didn't need this old man to navigate for them, Raika would be very tempted to just dump him the absolute second he could.

But of course, then he would feel guilty. And he would probably pick the old man back up again, thus restarting the entire cycle. Damn his conscience.

The old man shifts. "Would you let me down, young man?" he asks.

Raika does so, thankful that he can get an actual proper rest. The old man doesn't weigh much, but carrying him around for extended periods of time is still exhausting, a fact that wasn't helped by their mad dash a few moments ago.

He watches the old man shuffle up to the edge of the cliff. The wind is howling faintly, and the old man raises his head just like he did back in that clearing they found him in, as if he's listening to the wind. Raika is beginning to wonder if this old man is just senile - just their luck, isn't it, that the only person who might be able to help them might also be genuinely insane?

After several moments of listening to the howling wind, the old man nods.

"You two have come a very long way," he says, without turning to face them. "I hear it clearly now - the footsteps of your harsh journey, echoing throughout the land. You're looking for stray friends, aren't you? One of them is . . . a boy with two NetNavis, one blue and one white."

Raika blinks. How did the old man figure that out? The only conversations they've had with him so far have been to ask whether they're going the right way. And they certainly didn't mention why they're out here, hopelessly lost, in the first place.

"Are you talking about Lan!?" Dingo exclaims, gaping at the old man in awe. "You know where he is? Hey, c'mon, old man! Tell us!"

The only response is a loud snore, and the old man's head dips forward.

"Are you kidding me!?" Dingo yells, gripping his head. "How can anyone fall asleep that fast!? He's standing up, for crying out loud!"

"He's probably senile," Raika mutters under his breath. He steps forward until he's past the old man, and he looks out over the edge of the cliff. His eyes widen. "Hey, there's a town down there!"

"There is?" Dingo comes up beside him, excited. "There is!"

"And it's right next to the ocean, too," Raika goes on, beginning to smile. "Maybe we can get a boat and see if we can shorten our journey."

"Yeah, it'd be way easier to find the others if we didn't have to walk everywhere all the time," Dingo agrees. He glances over his shoulder. "Hey, old man, do you know if- ah, he's gone!"

Raika looks back as well, and sure enough, the old man who technically guided them here has vanished. If it weren't for the fact that Dingo very clearly remembers the old man too, Raika would question whether or not he was ever there to start off with.

" . . . Let's just head down there," Raika decides, sighing. "Clearly we won't be getting any more help from that old man."

"This is way too weird," Dingo mutters, as they start looking for a way down the cliff.

Raika gives him a look, but refrains from commenting.


The town by the ocean turns out to be a hot springs resort of sorts. Raika's only experience with this kind of thing is are Japanese hot springs, and even then he's never actually experienced one properly, because it was literally just Lan waxing lyrical about the ones he's visited before. Which is not the same as actually going to a hot springs resort himself, but Lan paints a very vivid picture.

"Is it me," Raika says, frowning at the townspeople they pass by, "or do these people seem strangely nervous?"

"It's just you," Dingo replies. "These guys look totally fine to me!"

"I see it," SearchMan says quietly, and Raika silently thanks whatever gods are out there that at least one of their group isn't in la-la land.

"I saw a sign on the way in that said this place is called Amita," TomahawkMan speaks up, head turning this way and that so he can take in all the sights. "Do you think maybe there's an equivalent town in our reality?"

"You mean aside from the hundreds of hot springs scattered around Japan?" Raika deadpans.

" . . . Good point," TomahawkMan admits.

They pass by a stall selling what look to be boxes of odd-looking buns, which Dingo says are called manju. Raika has no idea what a 'manju' is, and he has no desire to find out, because it doesn't look very appealing to him. He also has no idea why Dingo apparently knows so much about this stuff, even though he's from Netopia, not Japan, and then Dingo reveals that his boss - Yahoot - took him and Dex on a hot springs trip once as a reward for their hard work.

Or as a reward for Dex's hard work, at least. Dingo's sense of direction is so appalling it's actually impressive that he hasn't gotten lost and died yet. Then again, that nearly happened earlier, so they can't discount the possibility.

They're coming up to what appears to be an open-air restaurant when they hear a thin, croaking laugh above the general noise of the town.

"No," Raika says, incredulous. "No way. You can't be serious."

"How did he get down here before us?" Dingo demands in a high voice.

Raika almost doesn't want to believe it, because how can he? The old man never moved faster than a shuffle, and Raika and Dingo were doing all the legwork throughout that mountain path. There is absolutely no way the old man has somehow gotten down here faster than they did.

And yet, apparently, he has. They find the old man at a table near the edge of the open-air restaurant, cackling to himself as he eats one of those manju things. Various other plates are scattered on the table in front of him, an absolutely absurd amount, far more than anyone should be physically capable of eating.

"Hi, old man," Dingo says cautiously, as they step into the restaurant.

"What are you doing here?" Raika asks, eyeing the plates of food.

"As you can see," the old man croaks cheerfully, "I am eating."

"Eating?" Raika repeats.

"Yes!" the old man agrees. He takes a bite out of the manju in his hand and it vanishes within moments, and then he makes to start on a second manju in his other hand.

"How did you get down here so fast?" Raika quickly asks, before the old man can get distracted.

"I walked," the old man replies, which tells them absolutely nothing. "Oh, you two must be hungry, yes? You've walked a mountain path for quite some time. Come on now, dig in!"

"Can we?" Dingo's face lights up. "Thanks, old man!"

"Wait a second-" Raika begins, but Dingo ignores him and grabs one of the plates from the table, downs it in record time, and then licks it clean.

Raika is starting to wonder if being ignored is going to become a regular thing. It seems he's the only human here with any halfway-decent amount of sense in his brain, and it's always the curse of those burdened with common sense to be ignored by idiots like Dingo, who like to use mini-axes to navigate and blindly follow random old men they've only just met.

The old man starts eating the rest of the dishes with frankly astonishing speed, leaving every single plate empty within moments. It's both impressive and appalling.

The old man orders more food, and Dingo immediately sits down and starts eating. Raika eventually gives in and joins them, because what else is he going to do? And besides, he is hungry. They have food in the packs that Commander Mask gave them, but they need to make it last, and if this old man is treating them to food, then fine.

The food is very good. It looks good, it smells good, and it tastes good. And to Raika and Dingo, whose stomachs have been consistently half-empty for days now, this is the best meal they've ever had. They might go a little bit overboard, and Raika knows damn well that you shouldn't eat too much after spending a long time being hungry, because you'll just get sick and throw up, but he doesn't care. He's hungry, logic be damned.

By the time they're full, they have an almost literal mountain of plates stacked up on the table. The old man ate even more than Raika and Dingo combined, but Raika is far too satisfied at finally having a full belly for the first time in days to care about absurd that is.

"That was amazing," Raika says, leaning back in his seat with a content sigh.

"Best food I've had for days," Dingo agrees happily.

"Have our operators gone mad?" SearchMan mutters to TomahawkMan, who sighs and raises his arms in a helpless shrug.

Raika hears the exchange and doesn't care. Again, he's too satisfied to care.

"Your bill, sirs," the owner of the restaurant says, appearing out of nowhere to place a slip of paper onto the middle of the table.

Bill? Oh, right, they still have to pay for the food. But they don't have any money.

The old man was here before them, so presumably he has the money to pay for all this. Raika hopes he can pay for all this, anyway. The old man certainly didn't protest to them ordering practically every item on the menu.

"Ah, this gentleman will-" Raika begins, gesturing over to where the old man is sitting.

Or where the old man was sitting. The seat is conspicuously empty now.

"Oh, no," Raika mutters, deflating.

"Um," Dingo says, blinking, "where'd the old man go?"

"What kind of scam are you kids trying to pull?" the owner asks sharply, crossing his arms.

"W-wait!" Raika yelps, half-panicking. "This isn't a scam, I promise! There was an old man with us, he was here first actually, and he said-"

He stops.

Something just occurred to him - the old man told them to dig in, which meant he invited them to eat with him. But what he didn't say was whether he was actually going to pay for them.

Exact words. That's the same kind of trick that Mimic loves to pull on people.

"Oh, god," Raika groans, burying his face in his hands. "We've been tricked."

"You've been tricked?" The owner's expression is colder than a snowstorm in Sharo. "Look at all this food you've eaten! And now you're saying that some invisible old man is going to pay for you?"

"He's not invisible, he was right there!" Dingo insists, frantically pointing at the old man's empty seat like that's going to make him magically appear to solve their problem.

"Forget it, Dingo," Raika sighs, slumping in his seat. "We're not going to get anywhere blaming that old man."

"So are you going to pay?" the owner demands, tapping the bill insistently.

Raika winces. "Uh . . . a-about that . . ." He actively resists the urge to bolt when the owner's eyes narrow dangerously. "You see, we don't . . . have any money . . ."

"You don't have any money," the owner repeats, completely deadpan.

"No," Raika agrees in a very small voice. Dingo cringes beside him.

Five minutes later, they're washing dishes in the restaurant's kitchen under the watchful glare of the owner.

This is quite possibly one of the single most humiliating things that Raika has ever done in his entire life. Forget trying to accuse Mimic of being a Navi-thief or any of that other stupid stuff he did, this is the absolute worst. And this time it's not even his fault - it's that damn old man, who decided to bail on them and leave them to deal with the fallout of realising they have no way to pay for all the food they ate.

"I hate this," Raika mutters to himself, angrily trying to scrub out some stains from the plate in his hands. "I hate that old man, too."

"You know," SearchMan speaks up mildly, "if you think about it, this is technically your own fault."

Raika stops and stares at his Navi. SearchMan, to his credit, doesn't even blink at the heated look.

"You trusted a random old man to assist you, and he led you straight into the path of a giant predator," he points out. "Not only that, but you also trusted the same old man to pay for the food you ate. What were you expecting?"

"A bit of basic human decency," Raika retorts, going back to washing. "Is that too much to ask?"

"From a trickster? Yes."

"He has a point," TomahawkMan says idly, from where he's watching Dingo clean his own pile of dirty dishes with surprising skill. "It was pretty obvious what type of human that old man was right from the start. Yahoot's told me and Dingo some stories about how Mimic used to trick him and the others into giving her free food - you can't expect anything nice from tricksters like that, especially if you've only just met them."

"They basically exist to mess with people," SearchMan agrees, nodding.

"If you knew what type of person that old man was right from the start," Raika grits out, "why the hell didn't either of you say anything?"

"We thought you knew," TomahawkMan says. "Like I said, it was pretty obvious."

Raika sighs heavily and slides the plate in his hands onto the pile he's already washed up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dingo suddenly grabs the plate and inspects it. "Hey, this is still dirty!"

Raika stares at him. "What."

"Look," Dingo insists, shoving the plate in his face. "See this? There's still grease on it. Do it over again!"

He dumps the plate back into Raika's sink, and Raika gapes at him.

"What the hell-" he begins, but Dingo starts going through the rest of his pile and throws them back in one-by-one as well. "Dingo! Quit it!"

"You're such a poor dish-washer," Dingo scoffs. "In a curry shop, even the tiniest bit of a stain is a fatal mistake! How can you expect people to eat off a plate that's still dirty? It's called cross-contamination, Raika, and it's bad for business, not to mention the customers' health! You can't work in a curry shop if your washing is this poor!"

"I don't want to work in a curry shop!" Raika cries, confused.

"Hey!" the owner roars, and they both flinch. "Stop messing around and get back to work!"

"Got it," Raika and Dingo chorus, quickly going back to washing.

There's a massive crash from the front of the restaurant, and they stop, startled. The sound of screaming reaches their ears, and then even more crashes, as if something is wrecking the area outside.

Raika and Dingo exchange a quick glance and then look at the owner of the restaurant, who's suddenly gone very pale. That's puzzling enough on its own, but then he rushes out, leaving them alone in the kitchen, which is odd because he told them he wasn't going to move until they finished washing up all the dishes they used.

The sound of crashing and screaming still persists, so Raika and Dingo cautiously abandon their unwashed dishes and follow the owner into the front of the restaurant.

They're surprised at the destruction. Five minutes ago, this place had been relatively clean, or as clean as an open-air restaurant can get, and now everything is a complete mess. The tables have been smashed to pieces and rubble is strewn across the floor carelessly, and the few remaining customers are fleeing for their lives.

And in the middle of all this stands a black-and-pink NetNavi with a roll of tape connecting his arms. Raika recognises him as VideoMan only because he faced off against the Darkloid version of this Navi back in his own reality, although Lan and the twins would likely protest the 'faced off' part.

And then Hide Narcy steps up beside VideoMan with a cocky, self-absorbed smirk, and the restaurant owner panics.

"M-Master Narcy, sir!" he exclaims, almost trembling.

"Master?" Dingo repeats incredulously.

"Why?" Raika wonders, even more confused than he was before.

"Wh-what's going on?" the owner asks, ignoring them. "Why are you-"

"You haven't been paying your rent," Narcy tuts, shaking his head as if he's disappointed. "You know what happens to those who don't pay their rent!"

"But . . . I-I don't have the money right now!" the owner protests, and he flinches when VideoMan raises his arms. "I promise, I will pay! Just- just wait, please!"

"Wait?" Narcy's eyes narrow. "You want me to wait? You know I hate waiting. It's the one thing I hate more than anything!" He glances at his Navi. "VideoMan, tear it all down!"

"Of course, Narcy!" VideoMan snaps out his tape.

"No-" the owner tries to protest again, but VideoMan continues smashing up the tables as if he hadn't even tried to speak.

Raika can't watch this anymore. Neither can Dingo, judging by the look on his face. Without needing to exchange a word or even a glance, they both step forward until they're in front of the restaurant owner.

"Hold it!" Raika shouts over the noise.

He almost doesn't expect it to work, but amazingly enough, VideoMan actually stops. Narcy stares at them, looking them up and down with an expression that suggests he's come across a new species of a particularly disgusting bug.

"Who are you two?" Narcy asks, with a derisive scoff. "Clearly you're not from around here, or you wouldn't dare challenge me so lightly."

"Challenge you?" Dingo glares at him. "We don't care about that, we just want you to stop smashing up this guy's restaurant!"

"N-no, wait, you two-" the owner tries to say.

"Stop this at once, and leave," Raika says loudly. "This man has done nothing to you."

"He hasn't paid his rent!" Narcy exclaims, as if that excuses smashing up the owner's restaurant like this. "Those who don't pay aren't allowed to stay. That's my rule!"

"And who's to say this guy's gotta follow your stupid rule?" Dingo demands.

"My rules are the rules of this town," Narcy tells them haughtily. "I run Amita's underworld, and therefore I run the whole town! And for you two to defy me like this . . ." He points at them. "VideoMan, make them understand what a terrible time those who defy me have!"

VideoMan eagerly raises his arms again, but Raika and Dingo have had enough of this.

"SearchMan!" Raika exclaims, whipping out his PET.

"TomahawkMan!" Dingo cries at the same time.

Their Navis materialise in the ruined restaurant, ready to fight. Narcy looks shocked to see two NetNavis, as does VideoMan - and Raika remembers that very few people actually have NetNavis in this reality, which might explain why Narcy is apparently such a tyrant.

It's entirely likely that no one else in this town has a NetNavi. That means no one is able to stand up to Narcy, since a NetNavi is much, much stronger than the average human, even without any special abilities. Now that Raika and Dingo are here, though, maybe they can change that.

"It doesn't matter if you have NetNavis!" Narcy snaps, recovering annoyingly fast from his shock. "VideoMan, take them down!"

"R-right!" VideoMan agrees. "Wind Cutter!"

"Search Grenade!" SearchMan hurls the bomb and it explodes against VideoMan's Wind Cutter, destroying it immediately.

"Tomahawk Swing!" TomahawkMan adds, slashing with the axe on his right arm and sending a powerful gust of wind whipping toward Narcy and VideoMan.

The two of them are launched right out of the roof of the restaurant. Raika would be concerned about attacking a human like this, but Narcy deserves it - and besides, if he's learnt one thing about villains like this, it's that no matter how much you beat them down, they always get right back up again, perfectly fine even if you dropped a ton weight on them. Which is odd, but at least they can be assured that Narcy isn't dead or seriously injured.

" . . . That was kinda underwhelming," Dingo comments, returning TomahawkMan to his PET.

"For all his talk, I was expecting more," Raika agrees, doing the same with SearchMan.

"Then again, this is Narcy we're talking about," Dingo points out. "The one back in our reality wasn't that strong, either. Though he was admittedly more of a threat than this one seems to be . . ."

"At least he wasn't hard to deal with," Raika sighs.

"What have you done!?"

They both jump and turn to face the restaurant owner, who doesn't look at all grateful for them saving him. In fact, it's the exact opposite - he looks horrified, and appears to be very close to a breakdown.

"I don't want to imagine what will happen if we defy Master Narcy . . ." the owner moans. He glares at them. "Get out, now! You've caused enough trouble already!"

Raika can't help but gape at the man.

He and Dingo weren't helping him for praise, sure, but a little bit of gratitude would've been nice. Instead, they're getting kicked out? What kind of insane logic is that?


It's not the worst day that Raika's ever had in his entire life, but it's definitely the most frustrating. First they get tricked by an old man, then forced to wash dishes, and then scolded for sending a tyrant flying. He'd ask what else could go wrong today, but that would just be inviting trouble, so he keeps his thoughts to himself.

Dingo has no such problems.

"That was so not fair!" he whines, stomping along beside Raika. "We helped him out and then he just tells us to get lost? That's gratitude for you, I guess! This reality sucks, man . . ."

"Says the person who got us lost in the first place," Raika mutters under his breath.

"This whole thing is that old man's fault," Dingo continues to complain. "Seriously, if I ever see him again-"

"There's no point," Raika interrupts tiredly. "That old man is a trickster, like Mimic. I've been on the wrong end of more than enough of her schemes to know that getting annoyed is exactly the reaction a trickster wants from their victims."

"But I am annoyed!" Dingo protests. He lets out an angry sigh. "You're right, though. Yahoot's told me some of the stuff Mimic did, and I always wondered how she managed all that. Never thought I'd have to experience it first-hand."

"I think I would've rather been scammed by Mimic instead of some random old man," Raika muses. "At least with Mimic, it wouldn't come as a surprise. I'm just wondering where that old man went after he tricked us, though . . ."

"I don't wanna think about him anymore," Dingo mutters. "Can we just pretend we never met him? Life would be a lot better if we pretend we never met him."

"It doesn't work like that-"

Raika stops short when he hears a familiar laugh. Thin and croaking, and it sends shivers of dread down his spine the moment he hears it.

"Not again," he mutters, and then looks up at the building the laugh seems to be coming from.

A bath house. Or, he thinks it's a bath house. He's actually not entirely sure - he's never been to a bath house before, and he only knows what they look like because SearchMan looked them up once after Lan spent a solid hour gushing about the one he and his family sometimes goes to (but haven't been to in a while, since the twins would probably murder everything within five miles if they're forced to so much as look at a large amount of water).

" . . . I'm not gonna get tricked by that old man again," Dingo declares, and then for some bizarre reason, he strides purposefully toward the bath house.

"Hold it, dammit!" Raika exclaims, rushing after him. "Why are you going in there? There's literally no point!"

"I'm gonna give that old man a piece of my mind!"

They head through the entrance and into the lobby, a spacious room that leaves Raika stunned from the sheer size of it. Even the Net Police headquarters in Sharo doesn't have rooms half this size. Wow.

Dingo stalks off into one of the rooms nearby, and Raika stops gaping around at the size of the lobby long enough to hurry after him. Dingo's just as stubborn as anyone else Raika knows - SearchMan would say they're just as stubborn as each other, most likely - so there's no stopping him once he sets his mind to something. No matter how ridiculous that something happens to be.

They pause in the wide entrance to one of the communal bath areas. This one appears to be for men - which is lucky, because Raika doesn't want to imagine what would've happened if they walked into the women's bath area. It would be embarrassing at the least.

"I'm sure I heard him in here," Dingo mutters, staring around suspiciously.

"This does seem to be the general area," Raika agrees sarcastically. "You know. Since this is a bath house."

"Alright, you don't have to be so-"

"Hey!"

They jump, and then yelp when they're both lifted up by their collars. Their feet leave the floor by several, well, feet.

Raika nearly struggles, thinking they're under attack, and then he sees the person who's holding them so far off the ground and he abruptly loses the will to fight. This man is huge - twice Raika's size, literally twice his size, and built like a brick wall.

"When you're taking a bath," the brick wall of a man growls, "do you leave your clothes on?"

"N-no," Dingo squeaks. Raika finds it impressive that he's even able to summon the courage to speak at all - he himself is too intimidated.

"Then take them off," the man snaps.

Unwilling to invoke the wrath of this brick wall of a human being, Raika and Dingo do as they're told. They have to leave their PETs along with their clothes in the lockers provided for them, and the look of betrayal that SearchMan and TomahawkMan give them as the locker doors close makes Raika's heart clench with guilt.

Silently apologising to both of their Navis for being forced to abandon them for the time being, Raika and Dingo head back into the communal bath area, now completely naked aside from the ridiculously-tiny bath towels around their waists. Raika isn't shy or anything, but the idea of being so vulnerable in front of complete strangers makes his skin crawl uncomfortably.

Dingo has no such issues. It's likely because he's been to a hot spring before - those are relatively communal, though not nearly as public as a bath house like this.

They split up to search for the old man, because he has to be in here somewhere, but after several minutes, Raika is forced to give up and meet Dingo back in the middle of the room, near one of the bigger pools. Baths. Whatever they're supposed to be called, he has no idea, Sharo doesn't have this kind of thing and frankly he's grateful for it.

"He's not here," Dingo reports, though he's still looking around as if he's trying to find the old man.

"He's probably sitting somewhere in plain sight, laughing at us," Raika says sourly.

Dingo sighs and heads over to the bath nearby, ripping off his towel and splashing down into the water.

" . . . What are you doing," Raika flatly asks.

"Well, we're in a bath house, so we might as well enjoy it, right?" Dingo shrugs. "At least one thing's gone right today."

Raika hesitates, because he's pretty sure using a bath house costs money, which is something they still don't have. Not to mention they got in trouble for exactly the same thing less than half an hour ago.

But he has to admit he's curious about this whole bath house thing. Steam rises off the water, and it makes him a little bit hesitant to touch it because he isn't very good with hot things, but still. He's curious, the kind of curious that Mimic and Chaud probably feel half the time because they're cats, and he wants to see what this is like.

Now he has an issue. Does he risk getting in trouble because they used the bath house even though they don't have the money to pay for it, or do they walk out and apologise to the owner for the trouble they may or may not have caused and never look back?

Dingo seems to be deciding on the former. He's settling into the water happily, annoyance fading into contentment, and he lets out a faint sigh.

Before Raika can come to his own decision, they're surprised to see bubbles rising from a patch of water near Dingo. They both stare, confused and transfixed, as the bubbles rise quicker, and then something else rises out of the water.

It turns out to be the old man. He rises out of the water with his thin, croaking laugh, and Dingo jumps to his feet out of shock, the only thing saving whatever dignity he has being the odd position in which he holds his foot when he stands.

"Old man!" Dingo exclaims. "What the-"

"So you are here, after all," Raika sighs. Dammit. He'd almost been hoping that they wouldn't run into this old man again.

"Of course I am," the old man says, in a dreamy kind of tone. "I'm enjoying a good long soak in a bath. That's what this town is here for, after all!" He croaks out another laugh.

"Why did you leave us, earlier?" Dingo demands, lowering his foot into the water so he can stand properly. And now he's officially got no dignity left whatsoever, excellent.

"Earlier?" the old man repeats curiously.

Raika sighs again. He told Dingo there's no point in trying to get anything from a trickster, but it looks like Dingo has - once again - completely ignored him. He'd have better luck shouting a snowstorm down, honestly.

But he has to back Dingo up, whatever his thoughts on the matter.

"In that restaurant," Raika explains, and the old man glances at him. "You ate more than both of us combined, and then just left us to deal with the fallout. We had a terrible time because of you."

"We don't even have any money!" Dingo cries. "You don't even have any money! So why did you order so much food, huh, old man?"

"What are you talking about?" the old man croaks, tilting his head. "I know I have money."

Dingo pauses. "You do?"

"Of course!" the old man agrees. "I wouldn't be in here if I didn't."

"Then . . . we can actually enjoy this bath house?" Dingo looks far too eager.

Raika narrows his eyes and grabs the only part of Dingo that he can without embarrassing both of them - meaning his arm, really. He tugs Dingo away from the old man, leaning down to him.

"What happened to not getting tricked by the old man again?" Raika hisses in his ear.

"What're you-"

"He's a trickster!" Raika reminds him. "A trickster, Dingo! He's doing the exact same thing he did in the restaurant. He's using our own assumptions against us, and later, when we inevitably get in trouble because of this, he'll say it's our own fault because he never said he'd pay for us, we just assumed he would!"

Dingo gapes up at him, and then closes his mouth with a snap.

The old man is staring at Raika, too. Previously, the old man had seemed just as senile as Raika thinks he might be, with an absent and open expression that made him appear more or less harmless, even if he's a trickster. But now there's a sharper look to his expression, more alert, and it makes him look . . . well, it makes him look sane. Nowhere near as senile as Raika thinks he is.

"You're quite a perceptive one, aren't you?" the old man muses, smiling a little. That's a genuine smile rather than an absent-minded one.

"Yes, well," Raika mutters, releasing Dingo, "one of my friends is . . . a little bit like you."

"Ah, of course," the old man says, nodding. "The one-eyed girl with the demon-Navi, yes?"

Raika freezes. Dingo does too, staring at the old man like he's grown a second head.

Okay, Raika thinks, mind racing. Earlier, this old man mentioned that one of our friends is a boy with two NetNavis, one blue and one white. That's not very specific, so it could've meant anything. He could have just been lying so we'd be easier to trick. But 'one-eyed girl with the demon-Navi' is far too specific to mean nothing.

"Mimic doesn't have one eye," Dingo says slowly, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "And ProtoMan's not a demon-Navi."

"Mimic's left eye is cybernetic," Raika informs him, and Dingo whips his head around to gape at him. "And ProtoMan can turn into a demon, which technically makes him a demon-Navi of sorts."

"Mimic's got a cybernetic eye?" Dingo whispers, shocked.

Raika raises an eyebrow. "Did you think that giant scar on her face was purely aesthetical?"

Dingo looks horrified.

"Alright," Raika says, turning back to the old man, "we're going to walk out of here and you're going to tell us everything you know. No tricks, and no disappearing on us. Got that?"

"That sounds like a threat, young man," the old man notes calmly.

Raika purses his lips. "I . . . didn't mean to make it sound like one. But you already know we're looking for our friends. Any information we can get as to their whereabouts will be very helpful."

"And you're very eager, a little too eager one might say," the old man says. He nods slowly. "But I can understand that. If I were searching for lost friends, I would be frantic as well, no doubt. Alright then, I'll tell you what I know."

"One more thing." Raika holds up a finger. "Since you have money, you're going to have to pay for using this bath house, for yourself and us. Don't try any tricks like you did at the restaurant, okay?"

The old man lets out a croaking laugh. "Of course, of course, wouldn't dream of it!"

I'm sure you wouldn't, Raika thinks dryly.

The amused look the old man gives him makes Raika think, for one absurd moment, that the old man somehow heard that. But, like he said, that's absurd. The only person Raika knows who can read minds is Arcadia, and the twins can only read each others' minds. There's no such thing as a telepathic human who can read everyone's minds.


Raika keeps a very close eye on the old man as he pays for their use of the bath house, even if Raika himself didn't do more than strip down and walk around. He makes sure that the old man actually pays for all three of them instead of just himself, and luckily for them, the old man is actually keeping his word this time.

That's good. It seems the old man is putting aside his trickster tendencies for the time being, though how long that's going to last probably depends on when the old man is going to get bored of being serious. And, considering he's a trickster, that's likely to happen very quickly. Hopefully they can get the information they need from him before that happens.

The old man leads them out of the bath house and ambles down the street. Raika and Dingo are forced to slow their paces so they don't lose sight of him - he seems to have a very odd habit of randomly vanishing the absolute second they take their eyes off him. It doesn't make sense for an old man who doesn't seem capable of walking faster than a shuffle, but Raika has seen and done weirder things.

While they're searching for a good place to talk privately, a sudden and very strong gust of wind blows through the streets. Raika has to stop and press his hat onto his head, making sure it doesn't fly off, and Dingo yelps when his hood is blown down. Several people in the street also yelp, some of them darting into the shelter of buildings, others bracing themselves.

At the same time, Raika hears a scream that's half-muffled by the howling wind, and it fades as the wind dies down.

"What was that?" Dingo asks incredulously, tugging his hood back up.

"The wind or the scream?" Raika asks.

"Both, I guess."

"It's nothing to worry about," the old man tells them serenely, apparently the only one who wasn't affected by the sudden gust of wind.

"Nothing to worry about?" Raika gapes at him. "But-"

"Come, now." The old man gestures for them to follow him. "There's a sheltered spot nearby where we can speak, and no one will overhear us."

Raika frowns, but follows the old man anyway. He's not sure whether or not the old man has been to Amita before, so he can't question why this old man seems so sure that there's a place they can talk without being overheard.

The old man leads them to a spot just out of sight of the main street in town. There are very few people around, and a half-crumbled roof sits overhead. There's a dirty sign nearby that says this was a restaurant of some kind, and Raika recognises the patterns in the rubble on the ground.

"I guess whoever used to own this place didn't pay their rent," he mutters to Dingo, who looks confused for a moment before sad understanding dawns on his expression.

"Now, then," the old man says, stopping in the middle of the abandoned restaurant, next to the only table still intact. He hops up onto it and sits, cross-legged, completely at ease with his surroundings. "What exactly do you wish to know?"

Raika and Dingo exchange a glance and step forward cautiously, being careful of the rubble.

"Whatever you can tell us about our friends," Raika says. "And . . . and we'd also like to know how you know all this, too." Dingo nods his agreement.

"That second one is an easy question to answer," the old man replies. "I simply listen to the voice of the wind."

"The voice of the wind?" Raika repeats, frowning. "That's . . ."

Insane, he wants to say, but he knows two small children whose hearing is so powerful that they're fully capable of hearing even the faintest of sounds. Those same two children are also able to scale entire buildings with laughable ease, and they have night vision, too.

He still doesn't get the 'voice of the wind' thing, though.

"Is it like how I ask the spirits to guide me?" Dingo holds up his tomahawk to demonstrate.

"The spirits don't guide you, you just throw your tomahawk around and go off in whatever direction the handle is pointing!" TomahawkMan exclaims testily. "Even if it's the wrong direction!"

"It's not quite the same thing," the old man says, before Dingo can respond to TomahawkMan's ire. "The spirits attached to your tomahawk prefer to guide you to where you're needed rather than where you want to go, though they are quite mischievous. The voice of the wind is much simpler than that."

"Hold on," Raika interrupts, a little unsettled. "You mean to say Dingo's tomahawk is guided by spirits? As in, it actually works?"

"Only when necessary. Otherwise, they enjoy guiding you in the wrong direction," the old man says, with a slow, calm nod, as if they're discussing the weather rather than whatever spirits are apparently attached to Dingo's tomahawk.

Dingo's mouth drops open and he stares at his tomahawk like he's seeing it in a new light. Raika certainly is, because finding out that Dingo's tomahawk actually works (even if it's only sometimes) is definitely the last thing he could have expected.

" . . . We're never using that thing to navigate ever again," Raika decides.

"But if my tomahawk really does work-" Dingo starts to protest, but Raika speaks over him.

"Your so-called spirits got us lost on purpose! I'm not risking that happening again!"

"They did not 'get you lost'," the old speaks up, getting their attention again. "They guided you to me, didn't they? Because they knew I would be able to help you."

"Can we bring this conversation back to something that doesn't make us sound like crazy people?" Raika demands.

"Says the human who tried to fight a god," SearchMan deadpans.

"Stop sassing me, dammit!"

"The voice of the wind guides me," the old man says, and Raika takes a slow, deep breath to try and calm himself down, even if he still wants to scream his frustration to the sky. "I have become attuned to its movement and sound. If the wind merely blows, I can hear what's happening in the world."

"We're very steadily slipping back into crazy again," Raika mutters.

The old man gives him an amused look. "Did you not fall out of the sky, young man?" he asks, in a tone that suggests he's teasing Raika. "Both of you? And your friends?"

" . . . Just tell us where they are, please," Raika sighs, slumping.

The old man chuckles, and then looks up at the sky with a sudden frown. Before Raika or Dingo can ask what's wrong, another strong gust of wind blows through the town, and the half-crumbled roof trembles under the force of it. A few pieces even crack and fall right down to the ground, though luckily those pieces were nowhere near Raika, Dingo, or the old man.

There's also another faint scream that fades as the wind dies down, and Raika exchanges an unsettled glance with Dingo and their Navis.

"Which of your friends would you like to locate first?" the old man asks, as if absolutely nothing happened.

"Are you not at all concerned by that screaming?" Raika hesitantly asks.

"It's nothing to worry about," the old man tells him once again. "Now, your friends?"

" . . . Mimic first," Raika says, deciding to ignore the odd wind and screaming for now. If this old man can tell them where their friends are, Raika is willing to overlook how unconcerned he is about all these odd occurrences.

"Why Mimic?" Dingo asks, glancing up at him with a frown. "Those CM Forces guys said they'd get their agent to rescue her for us. I mean, I get that she's a prisoner, and I'm worried about her too, but I think we should focus on finding the others first."

"Use your head, Dingo," Raika tells him. "If we know exactly where Mimic is, we stand a better chance of mounting our own rescue when we find everyone else. We can't guarantee that the CM Forces' agent will be able to rescue her, after all."

Dingo's eyes widen. "A-ah, that's right!" he exclaims. "Can't believe I didn't think of that . . ." He turns to the old man. "Hey, old man, Mimic was taken by the Zoanoroids - do you know where she is right now?"

"Mimic is the one-eyed girl, yes?" the old man checks, and they both nod. The old man hums thoughtfully and goes quiet.

A gentle breeze blows through the abandoned restaurant. It ruffles Raika's hair and makes Dingo's hood flutter, but it does nothing more than that.

"You have nothing to worry about," the old man tells them.

"What?" Raika almost glares at him, shocked and offended. "Nothing to worry about? Mimic is a prisoner of the Gregar army!"

"Not anymore," the old man says, and Raika stops and stares at him. "She rescued herself several days ago. Or rather, the two NetNavis with her rescued her. One is the demon-Navi, and the other . . ." Another faint breeze blows through the abandoned restaurant. "The other is a dark knight, I believe."

"Dark knight?" SearchMan frowns. "I can't think of any Navis we know who fit that description . . ."

"Wait, doesn't Bass have those Dark Arm Blade things he can make?" TomahawkMan speaks up, and he and SearchMan exchange a wide-eyed glance.

"You're saying she's with Bass as well as ProtoMan?" Raika asks the old man, struggling to contain his excitement and keep his voice even. "You mean . . . you mean she's safe?"

"As safe as she can be, in this war-torn world," the old man replies, nodding. "Your enemies pursue her for the demon-Navi, but she is unaware of them - she stays too far ahead to notice them."

While it's concerning that the Zoanoroids are still obviously chasing Mimic, or rather chasing ProtoMan, Raika is extremely grateful that she's not a prisoner anymore. He'd honestly rather have his friends lost and scattered around this confusing, insane reality than in the hands of psychopathic monsters like the Cybeasts.

"Thank god," Raika breathes out, pressing a hand to his chest and feeling his heart thudding against his ribs. "Thank god, she's okay . . ."

"So we really don't need to worry about her!" Dingo exclaims happily, just as relieved as Raika. "All we gotta do is find her, like everyone else!"

"She will find her own way, don't worry," the old man tells them. "She is quite a resourceful and skilled child - and a troublemaker, at that." He smiles, and it's a mischievous kind of smile. "Quite like me, I'm sure you would agree."

"Yes," Raika agrees dryly, "like you."

Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if it turns out Mimic has been tricking every living thing she comes across. Maybe the only thing they need to worry about with Mimic is whether or not she's gotten herself arrested or something, though he's not entirely sure if there's still a law system in place in this reality, what with the war and all.

"Now, which of your other friends would you like to know about?" the old man asks.

Raika frowns for a moment, trying to decide who to ask about next - with Mimic apparently safe and most likely scamming her way across Beyondard, the only ones they need to worry about are Lan, Chaud, and Maylu.

"You said one of our friends is a boy with two NetNavis," Dingo says, before Raika can come to a decision. "How about him? His name's Lan."

The old man nods. "I thought you might ask about him next. I heard him up on that cliff earlier - he's currently in a small fishing village along the coastline. It's not very far from Amita, actually."

"Really?" Raika doesn't even bother trying to keep his voice even this time. "He's close by?"

"There should be a ferry that will take you directly to the village, and to your friend," the old man says. "You could be there by sunset today, in fact."

"That's awesome!" Dingo cries excitedly. "I can't believe we're so close to Lan!"

"And what about Chaud and Maylu?" Raika quickly asks, before they can get distracted. "Do you know where either of them are?"

"Chaud . . . and Maylu . . ." The old man hums thoughtfully.

"Chaud is Mimic's twin brother," Raika explains. "And Maylu is a pink-haired girl."

The old man once again goes quiet. Raika still doesn't the whole 'voice of the wind' thing, but it seems to be working out well enough for them so far, so he keeps quiet and lets the old man listen. Dingo does the same, though he's practically bouncing on the balls of his feet out of eager anticipation.

"They're together, as you two are," the old man eventually says. "A small boy with similar features to the one-eyed girl is currently travelling with a pink-haired girl through the mountain fields in the west. They're not as close as the boy in the fishing village, but they're steadily making their way toward that village, too. I can't tell you how long it will take them to reach the fishing village, but I can tell you that they will eventually reach it."

Before Raika and Dingo can even think of celebrating, a third strong gust of wind howls through the town. Once again, the sound is accompanied by a scream that fades with the wind, and it's no less unsettling than it was the last two times it happened.

" . . . Seriously, what is that?" Raika asks the old man, because once again he's completely unfazed. "I know you keep saying it's nothing to worry about, but it keeps happening and it's freaking me out."

"Kinda freaking me out, too," Dingo adds, with a suspicious glance around the abandoned restaurant.

"It's nothing to worry about," the old man repeats, infuriatingly. "Are you satisfied with my answers?"

"About our friends, or that screaming?" Raika mutters under his breath, and the old man merely looks at him. " . . . You can hear everything I'm saying, can't you?"

"Oh, yes," the old man agrees with a cheerful nod.

Raika sighs heavily and wonders if the universe just has it out for him. He keeps meeting people like this, and he's continuously left embarrassed and humiliated. Granted, some of those times were his own fault, he's willing to admit that - but as far as he knows, he hasn't actually done anything stupid enough to invoke the trickster wrath of this old man who can apparently tell where all of their friends are just by listening to the wind.

. . . He did not think his life could get any weirder than it already was, and yet here he is.

"Yes, we're satisfied," Raika says eventually. "Thank you for helping us out, sir."

"Yeah, thanks, old man!" Dingo adds, grinning. "Now we know where Lan is, and we know we've just gotta wait for the others to show up, too!"

"Indeed," the old man agrees, nodding. He hops down from the table he's been sitting on and shuffles toward the entrance of the abandoned restaurant. "Follow me, then. I'll help you find the ferry that will take you to the fishing village, and I'll even pay for your passage."

"You will?" Raika asks suspiciously, even as he and Dingo follow the old man out.

"Of course I will!" The old man lets out his thin, croaking laugh. "I may be a trickster, young man, but I do keep my word!"

I suppose that's where he and Mimic differ, Raika muses. She'd just break her word in a heartbeat if it suits her.

"She sounds like quite a handful," the old man comments as they step out into the main street.

Raika pauses for a split second, then forces himself to continue. "Can you . . . hear my thoughts?" he asks hesitantly.

"I listen to the things around me," is the only response he gets, which is not an answer at all.


They're within sight of the port when a familiar, albeit dishevelled, person jumps out in front of them.

Hide Narcy, the ruler of Amita's underworld, looks considerably less arrogant than he was earlier. He seems almost half-mad with indignant rage, and he looks like a complete mess, as if he's been fighting some monster with his bare hands.

"You!" Narcy roars, pointing at them.

Raika and Dingo just stare at him, startled by his appearance - both his actual appearance and his sudden appearance out of apparently nowhere.

"I'm sick of being blown away!" Narcy snaps, stomping his foot like a child throwing a tantrum. "It's bad for my health! You're going to pay for constantly humiliating me like this, do you understand!?"

Raika hesitantly raises a hand. "Uh, we've only met you once . . ."

"I beg to differ!" Narcy shrieks, and Raika blinks and lowers his hand. "That's four times now you've sent me flying! Four, you hear me!? Four! The first time was bad enough, but the second, third, and fourth times, you don't even bother to send out your Navis to fight me!? You will pay for this! Tenfold, for all this humiliation!"

The townspeople are watching from the side-lines, huddling together and glancing between Raika's group and their underworld ruler. It's clear they expect Narcy's revenge to end badly for Raika, Dingo, and the old man, and the reason why is painfully obvious.

Narcy has been ruling this town unopposed for so long that everyone who lives here is completely terrified of him. He's the only person here with any sort of power, if only because of VideoMan - Raika's willing to bet that, if Narcy didn't have VideoMan, this town would actually be a peaceful place to live in. It's sad that these people have to live like this simply because Narcy happens to have a NetNavi and they don't, and it's sickening that Narcy is using his power to oppress these people.

"Excuse me," the old man says, stepping forward.

Raika almost warns him to be careful, but something about the old man's expression makes him stop. That's not the expression of a playful trickster, that's the expression of someone who'd had enough. The old man is angry.

And the anger of a trickster is a scary thing to behold.

"I am attempting to assist these two boys, and you are being very rude," the old man says clearly, all signs of his thin, croaking voice gone and replaced with something stronger, something that doesn't match his tiny stature. "You have already tried to interrupt several times. I will not allow you to do so again. Now, I must ask you to leave this town and these boys alone."

"You must ask me?" Narcy sneers. "Who do you think you are, old man? No one tells me what to do! Not in this town! I run this town, Amita belongs to me! VideoMan, transmission!"

He materialises VideoMan with an angry flourish, and VideoMan snaps out his tape and creates several dozen copies of what look to be Skarab Beast viruses.

Raika gasps and makes to grab his PET, and Dingo copies him - but the old man holds up a hand and they pause, confused.

"Allow me to handle this," the old man says, without turning around.

"But-" Dingo begins to protest.

And then the old man takes something out of his robe. It looks similar to the odd PET that Narcy used to materialise VideoMan, though it's a different colour and has a NaviMark that Raika has never seen before.

"TenguMan," the old man announces, holding up the odd PET, "transmission!"

Another NetNavi materialises, tall and radiating strength like an aura. The Navi's pale armour reminds Raika very faintly of some sort of bird, and one of his hands is replaced by a three-leaf green fan. He stands with his arms crossed, completely calm, not even twitching at the shocked gasps that his appearance gets from the townspeople and Narcy.

"TenguMan!" someone cries.

"It's TenguMan!"

"Master Feng-Tian has come to rescue us!"

"Is it really him!?"

"No way!" Narcy wails, suddenly cowering away like he's facing up against his worst nightmare. VideoMan isn't any better. "Why is such a famous operator here, of all places!?"

"Famous operator?" Raika blinks and glances at the old man. "You can't mean . . ."

"The old man is Master Feng-Tian?" Dingo finishes, gaping.

The old man - or Master Feng-Tian - folds his arms and says absolutely nothing. His movement seems to be a signal of some kind for TenguMan, however, because the tall Navi immediately moves.

With barely even a sound, TenguMan uses his fan to blast out a powerful gust of wind that cuts straight through the copied Beast viruses and VideoMan. Narcy lets out another wail and falls to his knees under the force of such a powerful attack, and his Navi vanishes with a pained cry, leaving him alone and basically defenceless.

TenguMan steps forward, the odd sandals on his feet making faint clack-clacking sounds as he walks, and brandishes his fan at Narcy like a sword. Narcy flinches and cowers away, then cowers even more when the old man also steps forward.

"This time, I am not asking," Master Feng-Tian says, staring down at Narcy. "Leave this town and never come back."

Narcy chokes out a terrified whimper and nods.

As soon as Narcy has scampered away as fast as his feet can take him - which is surprisingly fast, honestly - the watching crowd breaks out into cheers of joy and gratitude. More than a few of the townspeople actually fall to their knees and bow to Master Feng-Tian and TenguMan, thanking them both so profoundly that they burst into tears then and there.

It's . . . quite a sight to witness, Raika must admit. Up until five minutes ago, he just thought this old man was some trickster who enjoyed messing with random travellers. But it turns out he's actually a famous operator, one of the few people who still has a NetNavi, and that Navi is powerful enough that the mere sight of him terrifies people like Narcy and VideoMan.

That's actually very impressive. And also very intimidating.

"Now then," Master Feng-Tian says, turning back to Raika and Dingo with a pleasant smile, "shall we go find your friend?"

"Yeah," Dingo squeaks, nodding quickly. "Yeah, okay, that's cool, I'm totally cool with that, no argument from me, no sir-"

"You're babbling," Raika tells him.

"Can you blame me!?" Dingo yelps, gesturing wildly to Master Feng-Tian and TenguMan.

The old man simply lets out a thin, croaking laugh.


It turns out they don't even need to pay for passage on the ferry to the fishing village. The people of Amita are so grateful to Master Feng-Tian that they refuse to charge him for anything, and that in turn means Raika and Dingo aren't forced to pay for their own passage, so they basically get to ride the ferry for free.

The sun is starting to dip below the horizon by the time they arrive in the port of the fishing village. Raika sees an odd collection of houses and various other buildings built into the side of a sloping rocky hill, and finds himself starting to wonder if bizarre architecture is just a thing with this reality as a whole.

"I still can't believe it, honestly," Dingo is saying to Master Feng-Tian. He seems to have gotten over how intimidated he was earlier, much like Raika, though the shock is obviously still lingering. "I never thought you'd be so famous, old man."

Master Feng-Tian lets out his characteristic laugh. He's sitting on the railing of the ferry, watching the darkening sky, and Raika has long since stopped questioning anything this old man does. It makes no sense and it's absolutely insane, but as long as Master Feng-Tian doesn't turn TenguMan on them, he's fine with this.

Mostly. Okay, he's still a little freaked out. Who wouldn't be, after witnessing all that?

"Raika," SearchMan suddenly murmurs in his ear, getting his attention. "TenguMan just gave me some data, but I'm not entirely sure what-"

"Hey!" Dingo suddenly shouts, accidentally interrupting SearchMan. "I can see Lan over there!"

Raika is immediately distracted. "You can?"

He looks out at where Dingo is pointing, and feels a rush of excitement - mixed with intense relief - when he spots Lan walking along the edge of the coast. There's a small white figure with him, and Raika guesses that's Trill.

"Lan!" he shouts, waving his arm. "Lan, over here!"

"Hey, Lan!" Dingo joins him, eagerly jumping up and down and waving his arms far more energetically than Raika is. "Lan!"

Their shouting makes Lan and Trill pause, and Raika doesn't have the enhanced vision of Mimic and Chaud, but he's able to see Lan turning to look at them. There's a brief pause, and then Lan raises an arm and waves back at them.

"Heyy!" Dingo shouts, grinning. "We found you, yeah!"

"That's one down, three to go," Raika remarks, also grinning.

"He's here, just like you said, old man!" Dingo happily says, turning to Master Feng-Tian. He pauses. "Wait, where'd he go?"

Raika blinks and looks at him, then looks around for the old man. It takes him a moment to realise that Dingo is right - Master Feng-Tian is absolutely nowhere to be seen.

" . . . He could have at least said goodbye," Raika grumbles, mildly annoyed.

"I don't think that's his style," TomahawkMan says, shrugging. "Kinda cool though, right?"

"'Cool' is not the word I would use for it."

With their guide now officially in the wind - probably literally, given said guide's ability to hear the 'voice of the wind' - Raika and Dingo disembark the ferry as soon as it arrives in port. They almost run to meet Lan, who's stopped and is waiting for them where the port meets the land, Trill excitedly bouncing beside him and the faintly-translucent figure of MegaMan grinning on his shoulder.

"Hey, you guys!" Lan exclaims as soon as they're close enough. He sets down a basket full of what look to be vegetables and steps forward to greet them properly. "I've been waiting for someone to show up! I'm glad you found this place!"

"So are we," Raika agrees. He can't help himself - he reaches out and yanks Lan into a hug, which surprises even SearchMan, and he laughs. "I am so happy that I've found someone with an ounce of sense in their brain."

"The heck is that supposed to mean?" Dingo demands, looking offended.

"Dingo got you lost, huh?" Lan laughs, stepping out of Raika's surprise hug.

"So many times," Raika sighs. "You are not going to believe the day we've had, though."

"I dunno, I've had some crazy days myself."

"Do your crazy days involve a trickster of an old man who can apparently hear the voice of the wind?"

Lan pauses. "No, they don't," he admits. "But it's weird you should mention that, actually. Ms. Fahran was telling me about an old man called Master Feng-Tian who can-"

"That's who we met!" Dingo interrupts, and Lan gapes at him. "He had this super-strong NetNavi called TenguMan and everything!"

"That's what Ms. Fahran said, too!" MegaMan speaks up, eyes wide. "And- wait, Lan, wasn't TenguMan on the list Mimic gave you?"

"That's right, he was," Lan gasps. He looks at Raika and Dingo eagerly. "Hey, where's Master Feng-Tian? We might be able to get a Cross from his Navi!"

"We . . . have no idea," Raika is forced to admit. "He vanished as soon as we arrived. He could be anywhere right now."

Lan deflates. "Aww . . ."

"A Cross?" SearchMan speaks up, looking vaguely confused. "You mean that Cross System thing you told me about?"

MegaMan nods. "Yeah. Mimic gave Lan a list of Navis that I can get Crosses from - the ones from the games, at least. We've already got a few, and we even got Slash Cross from Ms. Fahran recently."

"What do you need to make a new Cross?" SearchMan asks, and Raika frowns at him, wondering what in the world his Navi is up to.

"Uh . . . well, the data's kinda similar to what I needed to make a new Double Soul, actually," MegaMan replies. "Why?"

SearchMan raises his hand, palm up, and a small block of data materialises on it. "Because TenguMan gave me this before he and his operator left. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but it seems to be some data from TenguMan himself. Do you think maybe-"

"Lemme check!" MegaMan is so excited that he interrupts SearchMan and bounds forward on thin air to take the data. He scans it, and his expression lights up. "Yeah, this is it! This is the data I need for Tengu Cross!"

"How the heck did TenguMan know about that?" Dingo wonders, blinking. "We didn't even know Tengu Cross was a thing . . ."

"Maybe Master Feng-Tian 'heard' it and told TenguMan to give that data to SearchMan," Raika suggests. He sighs and slumps his shoulders. "Who even knows at this point, I've stopped questioning all the random things that happen to me by now . . ."

"And yet you continue to question them anyway," SearchMan observes, as MegaMan takes TenguMan's data back to Lan so they can register it in the Cross System.

"I told you to stop sassing me," Raika grouses.

"I don't recall agreeing to stop."

Raika groans and buries his face in his hands.