The Trap

"Jeez, can this room be any dustier?" Nova muttered as she looked at the selves in the basement. It was rather small, but it was staked up with old books that Nova wasn't familiar with.

Besides her, there was only one other person in there reading silently in a corner while a man wearing a hooded brown coat walked down the stairs. Just the sight of him gave Nova the chills. She began browsing the shelves for any books on the subject of pure hearts when the man walked up to her. Nova watched him at the corner of her eye; being alert.

"Do you need help Mrs. Nova?" An eerie voice came from the cloaked man.

Nova slowly turned to him; trying to keep smiling.

"No, I'm fine, thanks." The man just turned away.

"Well if you're looking for information about pure hearts, there's a lady from planet Earth upstairs. I'm sure she can tell you everything you need to know." He concluded as Nova quickly turned around. But no one was there anymore.

"Where did he go?" She pondered. "Oh well. If there is someone who knows about pure hearts up stairs then I must talk to her!" Nova informed herself as she made her way to the elevator that leads to the top floor.

"The bait is coming. While you distract the monkeys, I'll get the boy," Roger whispered to the hatchling before he disappeared.

Nova went up in the elevator as she felt as if something wasn't right. The closer she got to the top, the more afraid she became. When the elevator stopped at her floor, she gulped and the elevator doors opened.

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"Hey Otto, is this what you're looking for?" Sprx proclaimed as he held up a pile of screws.

"Yep! Where did you find them?"

"Under your rouge!"

"Oh ya! I put the there so I wouldn't forget where I placed them at! – Guess that didn't work very well, now did it?"

"No. Are you almost done?"

"Sorta. I still need to change the programming once I finish rewiring the scanners."

"Well hurry up. – I'm in the mood to smash some heart snatchers!"

"I'm going the fast I can! Counteracting the signal that's blocking us is difficult!"

"Well if you need my help, I'll be checking on the kid," Sprx said as he left Otto's room. Looking down at his floor, he wished there was something he could do to help. That's when a thought struck him. "I'll see if I can help Nova!" He yelled and ran to Antauri's room. Knocking slightly, the door creaked open. Sprx peeked in to see Antauri meditating; but he seemed bothered.

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"Wh, what happened here?" Nova shouted as she saw the citizens lingering about. There was a cold chill that gave you the sense you were being watched; and trust me, it didn't feel friendly.

Nova was shaking all over in fear. Looking around every corner, she would see someone's body.

"Welcome Nova of the Hyper Force. I've been expecting you….." A voice sounded off as the elevator behind her just fell down. The crash made Nova jump as she quickly began to communicate the team.

"Nova to…Ah!!!!" Nova was cut off as she was quickly pinned to the wall.

"I've got you now!" The heart snatcher screeched as her hand turned into the deadly purple color and phased her hand into Nova.

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'I guess I better leave Antauri…." Sprx trailed off as he was interrupted.

Antauri's eyes snapped open as he quickly landed on the floor. "Nova's in trouble!" He cut off Sprx as the two ran into the communications room.

Gibson was typing away when an alarm went off. Quickly switching the screen, he saw Nova's communication signal off line.

"We've got to get to the library! – Gibson, you'll have to come too since Chiro can't fight," Antauri informed Gibson as Otto entered the room to see everyone heading to their tubes.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Nova's in trouble! We've gotta go now!" Sprx replied as he slide down his tube like Antauri and Gibson already did.

"Wait for me!" Otto yelled back as he soon joined them. With all this noise, they were unaware of a certain sleeping child waking up.

"Mon, monkey team?" Chiro whispered as he woke up. Hearing the alarm, he knew his team was in trouble. Slowly sitting up, he held his heart and looked around. Breathing heavily, he slowly got off the bed maade his way to the communications room.

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Nova's screams soon faded as the room filled with a small light.

"It's defiantly different from everyone else's, but not as unique as Chiro's." It laughed as Nova's fur lightened and she fell to the floor. Absorbing the heart crystal, Roger appeared. Nova was still a little conscious as she over heard his plans.

"You've got the monkey. – Excellent. Now keep the others distracted while I go retrieve our real prey, Chiro." He laughed and disappeared.

"No……" Nova muttered as she fell into the deep slumber everyone else was in.

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"Nova…….I can't sense her anymore," Antauri informed the team.

"She might have lost her pure heart," Gibson added as Sprx's anger grew.

'Nobody does that to Nova and Chiro and gets away with it!' He yelled to himself as they landed at the library's entrance. As they entered, they saw no one there. Not even bodies on the floor which meant everyone left in a hurry.

"Where do you think she is?" Sprx asked looking around in frustration.

"We can always look on one of the scanners I fixed!" Otto yelled happily as he held it up. Quickly looking at it, he saw a bad energy anomaly on the top floor.

"There's a monster on the top floor!" He acknowledged but failed to see the signal of another one heading towards the robot.

The team immediately saw the elevator in pieces and flew up the entry way.

After three minutes of flying, they arrived on the last floor to see lifeless bodies everywhere. Looking around some more, everyone's eyes widened to see Nova; lifeless on the floor as well.

"Nova!!!" Sprx yelled as he ran towards her. However, Antauri felt the presence of the heart snatcher.

"Sprx! It's a trap!" Antauri yelled as Sprx froze.

"Clever little monkey. However, you're not smart enough to stay in that pathetic robot." The hatchling said as she appeared in front of Nova.

"Get away from her!" Sprx yelled.

"I enjoyed digging into her flesh and ripping her pure heart out painfully. – Her screams were music to my ears. However, I enjoyed watching my friend tare the pure heart out of your chosen one even more!" She said as her cold and dark laughs filled the air. This made the team very angry; especially Sprx and Antauri.

"Give Nova her Pure Heart back! – Now!" Sprx ordered the creature.

"Not a chance. You see, it was absorbed into this little necklace." She replied showing the necklace to them.

"The only way of releasing everyone's hearts is to break it. – But I'll never let you touch it!"

"Oh ya! – Magno Bolt Laser!" Sprx attacked as the rest of the team joined in.

"Spin Shocker!" Gibson yelled as he managed to hit the monster. Unfortunately, it didn't affect her.

"This is highly impossible!"

"Razor Chariot!" Otto yelled as he tried to run over the monster.

"Foolish monkey…." She trailed off as she barley hit Otto. Otto went flying into the wall as Antauri attacked her from behind.

"Monkey Mind Scream!" Antauri calmly said as he succeeded in hitting the monster into the wall behind them.

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"Got, gotta help the team," Chiro said to himself as he made it to the central computer. There he saw Nova's signal completely gone.

"Nova….." He trailed off as anger swelled up in his voice.

"Don't worry, she's not who we are after," A unfamiliar voice sounded off behind Chiro.

Chiro, who had most of his strength back, quickly turned around to see what seemed to be a human.

"Who are you and what are you doing in the Super Robot?!" Chiro questioned.

The man chuckled. "I am Roger. And I am here to take you and your pure heart to my master; King Phoboes." Roger said as he walked towards Chiro.

"Well that's not gonna happen!" Chiro responded ignoring the pain he felt as he got in a fighting stance.

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