Chapter 4: The Trap

The next day, the biggest noise came from Zeriros' headquarters, which woke some of the rebels.

"Sounds like something is going on back at Zeriros' castle." Reggie said, making Zock nod and say in reply. "He must be up to no good again."

"Yes, but what?" Blossom asked, sounding a little concerned.

"We must find out." Zock replied, before facing Ninji.

"Ninji, since you have ninja skills, would you please find out what he is up to?" Zock instructed.

"At once, my lord." Ninji said in a loyal tone, taking his leave as he leapt from tree to tree and towards the castle.

"Must he wake up so early in the morning?" Melissa yawned, just as she and Tifa came out, still tired but curious as to what was going on.

"He must be planning another plot to be rid of us." Jack said, only to then ask. "But what?"

Ryu however, paid no attention as he just looked at Cloud from above and decided he needed some answers on his behaviour, and thought if he was to start, Tifa might be the best choice to get them.

-At the castle-

As Ninji arrived at the castle, he found Coward looking afraid as he went out of the castle.

"Oh, master Zeririos is so unhappy with me. All I did was play with the keys and bury them somewhere. Now he thinks the rebels are behind it. I better find the keys, and fast. But where?" Coward said to himself as he ran out.

'Keys? That idiotic Meowth hid the keys to the Secret of Everything? And Zeriros thinks it was us? Let's see what he is up to.' Ninji thought.

Ninji did some hand movements, using his skills in ninjutsu to turn himself invisible as he then snuck around the castle to see what was going on.

To his surprise, he found many cages all over the ceilings tied to some ropes to each door as Zeriros was tying up the last ones.

"Those pesky vermins. I cannot believe they succeeded to steal my keys and get away with it." Zeriros said, angered, before stating. "This will be my biggest and greatest traps of them all!"

"They will come for the Secret of Everything sooner or later and when they do, they will open the doors, setting off my traps. Iron cages will fall on top of them, trapping them. And when I catch the one who stole my keys, I will capture them, put them in my dungeons and then I will create something horrible to kill them once and for all!" Zeriros snarled.

He cackled with an evil laugh before leaving to have another snack, which in his case was something on the lines of a complete turkey.

"This is bad. He's accusing us for stealing the keys. Oh no. Zock and the others are planning to go to the fortress to try to get the keys and they'll fall into the trap. I must get out of here and warn the others." Ninji said, quickly turning back to the village and running as fast as he could.

-Meanwhile-

"Tifa!"

Hearing her name, Tifa turned to see Ryu, making her ask. "Oh hey, Ryu. Is something the matter?"

"Yeah. I can get along with everyone here very easily but there's one person who I don't understand is..." Ryu began to say, but stopped when Tifa asked. "It's Cloud, isn't it?"

Ryu was surprised that Tifa guessed correctly.

"Yes, that's right." He said.

"You must understand that Cloud's been having a terrible past that he cannot let go." Tifa told Ryu, who guessed. "It's because of Zeriros right?"

"No. It's someone else. You see, Cloud and I... were are close friends." Tifa said, only for her expression to turn solemn as she then told Ryu. "I even remembered those dark days. You see there is someone who Cloud must defeat."

Curious, Ryu asked. "Someone he is after? Who?"

"This evil Digimon was born from the darkness in Cloud's heart. One day, I got badly injured by some thugs and Cloud's anger got the best of him, causing his darkness to come out of his body and take on a form of someone who looked like him, but had black skin. The evil one killed the thugs and planned to kill me and another friend of Cloud's." Tifa explained.

Curious, Ryu asked. "A friend of yours' and Cloud?"

"Yes. But she saved me and Cloud by sacrificing her life in front of our eyes. Cloud and I managed to fend him off but he disappeared afterwards." Tifa then said.

"Indeed." A voice said, making Ryu and Tifa turn to see Burn approach them.

"Burn?" Ryu asked.

"After they fled, I came in and took them to the care of Master Zock so they could become stronger. Tifa became our bargirl and romantic one of our group. Cloud, however... is focused on that darkness of his past, he cannot let go. He believed that thanks to Zeriros, he would've died too. But Cloud thinks he knew better." Burn said.

"I doubt he would been killed that easily too. Remember, I saw him too. He is very powerful." Tifa said, before stating. "But I will never give up on Cloud. I know he's only keeping his distance so he doesn't want us involved but I find a way to get through to him and win my love to him."

"You love him, don't you, Tifa?" Ryu asked, to which Tifa smiled and nodded in reply, not afraid to hide her feelings.

"In the end, I just hope Cloud makes the right choice" Burn said as he then walked off.

"Oh, by the way, Ryu, ever since you came here, Melissa became more attached to you than ever." Tifa smiled at Ryu, before she asked. "So how do you feel about her?"

Ryu blushed at this and said nervously. "She's a great girl but I doubt she'll fall for a guy like me."

Tifa giggled at Ryu's reply, but understood his uncertainty and nodded.

However, above them, not hearing the conversation, Cloud held his sword in the air and snarled. "I'll find you no matter what. I know you are not the one to die so easily. I can feel you."

-Meanwhile-

Coward was digging the ground, desperate to find the keys.

But after several minutes, he smiled as he found them.

"Aha. Found them! The master will be so pleased." Coward said as he picked up a chain of keys and ran back.

-At the castle-

Ninji was going carefully to avoid the traps.

He crept past the cages above until he had made his way to the courtyard.

"Phew. Made it out. Now to warn the others." Ninji said just as he ran into Coward, who asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just leaving. This place is too nasty for my taste." Ninji said in reply as he ran out, which just made Coward shrug and say. "Yeah, well this is the place for me."

"There's no judge in taste. Just be careful ok. I heard Zeriros has stored a surprise." Ninji said as he ran back.

As soon as Coward reached for the door, he saw Zeriros was eating a whole chicken when he heard a slam.

"Aha. I got those vermins now!" Zeriros cackled and went to see, curious as to who he had captured.

However, in the cage was Coward and Mateus.

Then Coward, in his cowardice, swallowed one of the keys from the chain.

"Oh dear. I swallowed one of the keys." He gasped.

"I'm sure will upset the master and certainly not do your digestion any good." Mateus said.

"Great suffering barnacle! It's Mateus! What are you're doing in my trap?" Zeriros questioned.

"Right now, trying to get out, sir" Mateus said.

"Oh, I see the miserable cat has returned. Where's my keys you traitorous turncoat?" Zeriros snarled at Coward.

"I... err... I accidently ate one..." Coward said nervously.

"Huh? GRRRRRR!" Zeriros yelled in rage.

-In the base-

"So you're saying that Zeriros has planned a trap for all of us, just because he accused us for stealing his keys for that stupid Meowth was playing hide and seek with them?" Blossom asked as the others heard from Ninji's intel.

"Yeah. The biggest trap you've ever seen. There's lots of them. Luckily, I got out safety and warned you guys all about it." Ninji said as everyone looked on in interest.

"Thank you, Ninji. You have saved us all from going to the castle and falling into the trap ourselves." Jack smiled.

"Well it will be a while till it quiets down before Zeriros find the keys again." Zock smiled.

"So all we have to do is wait, right?" Tina asked, a question which Zock simply nodded to.

And with her question asked, Tifa then walked up to Melissa and smiled.

"Good news. Ryu does have some feelings for you, so you're in luck. He was afraid that you are too much for him that's all." She whispered, making Melissa smile and say. "Thanks Tifa. I really owe you."

And thus, the Rebels managed to avoid Zeriros' trap and things were soon normal again, as Zeriros tried to get the keys out of Coward the hard way.

However, in the dark regions of the world there was a hidden base unknown to the rebels or Zeriros as a vampire Digimon sipped some wine from his glass next to an evil looking bird-Pokémon with tentacles as arms, watching the events unfold.

"Hmph. Seems that Zock and his miserable allies didn't fall for that after all." The bird Pokémon commented.

"That Zeriros thinks he is in charge, but he will learn soon the truth." The vampire grinned, before he rose from his throne, looked at the bird and said. "It won't be long now."

"Yes, soon we make our appearance." The bird smirked evilly, while behind them stood two figures.

One looked like a black version of Guilmon, but wore a dark blue armor that covered most of his body and a helmet with a spike on it was covered most of his forehead, but his red eyes could be seen out of the holes in it.

He also wielded a huge flesh-looking blade with a moving eye on it, while by his side was a large bipedal feline, with a white body, pronounced purple tail and stomach, feline head, and a mass of flesh connecting the center of its back to its head behind its neck.

He wore a black, high-collared, leather coat that had a red interior and yellow lining.

This coat was grey from the waist down and has several buttons lining the hips, a belt around his waist, and a second one that extends from the waist and up to the collar to connect to several smaller straps.

The four shorter straps are buttoned to either side of the front of the collar while the remaining ones are buttoned to the shoulders to form spaulders.

A black leather pauldron was attached to each spaulder by three buttons and two straps that button the the rim of the coat and two more that cross over his upper back.

"And they will all witness our power." The vampire stated, gaining a wicked smile on his face as he prepared his next moves. He and the bird cackled evilly as the other two just remained silent.

Who are these four dark people?