"Netto-kun, something's wrong," Rockman said suddenly. Netto stopped and looked at the PET.
"What is it?" Netto asked.
"Its a distress signal, coming from further up in the mountains! Could it be one of your cousins?"
Netto shook his head. "Can't be. None of them have PETs. One of the contestants, maybe?"
"Aside from you, Enzan, Miyuki and Saloma, no one else had a PET with them," Rockman said. "Should we check it out?"
"Definitely," Netto said. "Can you tell me which direction I should be heading though?"
Rockman fell silent for a moment, apparently trying to contact the other Navi that had given him the distress call. "Netto-kun, its no good. I can't reach the other PET."
A concerned look crossed over Netto's face. There were people who did live in the mountains, but none of them owned a PET that he knew of. Likewise, none of his cousins did either. Besides that, if it had been one of his cousins they would have sent up a flare. If someone was hurt they would need help. He had one of the flares that were used in emergencies, Kerr had left it behind last night. Netto had no idea where his cousins were at the moment, so the best thing to do would be to find the person and send the flare up. Netto knew enough first aid to hopefully help the person until a rescue party came.
"Okay, change of plans. Can you give me a general idea of where you think the distress call came from?"
"One moment, Netto-kun," Rockman replied. A minute later a map appeared on the screen. A large area north of where they currently were was circled. "Gomen,
Netto-kun, but that is the best I can do."
"Good enough. Lets go."
Without pause Netto turned around and headed back up the path, intent on finding the person who had sent the distress call. The contest would just have to wait, and if he lost, well, no person's life was worth a battle chip, and there was no way of knowing if Enzan, Miyuki or Saloma had gotten the distress call and had gone to answer it themselves. If they had then Netto would eventually meet up with them. If not, then he was on his own until he found the person and sent up the flare.
*****
"I can't believe he fell for it," Darius said, shaking his head in disbelief as he watched Netto run off.
"Of course he did," Mycah replied, looking up at her great-grandson. "Haven't we drilled this into his head? Had it been a real call you would be doing the same thing."
Darius looked down at his great-grandmother and smiled. She looked like a bundled up rug in the coat and hat she was wearing. Both were waterproof, and protected her against the chill wind that was beginning to pick up. From the way her eyes were crinkled he could tell she was smiling.
"Do you really thing that other boy is gonna willing play the bait in this?" Darius asked.
"Of course," Mycah said, smiling. "He doesn't have a choice in the matter. The hand of Fate is already at work, and we are simply helping."
"I don't know about that," Kichi said, appearing out of nowhere. "Getting him to go where we need him without actually dragging him there might be difficult. And besides, from what I saw, the two don't get along very well, if at all."
Mycah chuckled at her great-granddaughter. "That is because you cannot See what I See, dear. My visions tell me they must come together. There is so very much that depends on it."
Kichi shrugged. "It was clever to pretend to host a contest to get them here. I'll give you that much. But I still don't know if this will work."
"I have done all I can, and in the end it will be up to those two to decide. Until then, its up to you two to make it work as best as possible, up to a certain point. After that, we can only hope. So get moving, both of you. Do what you must to make things work, within reason, though."
Kichi and Darius grinned. 'Within reason' gave them pleanty of options, no few of which would be amusing for them. Whatever it was their grat grandmother was trying to do they didn't know, and she wasn't going to tell them, so they would just do their tasks and have fun with it at the same time. The two of them darted off into the woods together, disappearing into the mist, leaving Mycah alone. The old woman stared off into the rain, her eyes unfocused.
"Yes," she sighed sadly. "There is so much that depends on those two boys..."