In the afternoon of a long journey, Jose, Puss in Boots, Dulcinea, and Kitty Softpaws arrived to San Monica as they see a small town full of people.
"Look, Puss. We're here!" says Dulcinea as she was very excited to arrive here.
"Yes, we are. Let us go see and look for something that can help us get to the cave and find the last key to these Chaos Emeralds tressure," says Puss as the rest of the teeam nods with an adventurous smile as they took their horse and ride them for a while. For a while, everyone was looking around to San Monica and see the beautiful sight of the town, but they seemed worried about something. Whenever the heroes see the villagers, they see afraid looks, fear into their eyes, hearts, and souls.
"I sense something is wrong around here, guys," says Jose as he was very concerned with them.
"You're right," says Kitty as she and her team went in and asked someone, a black hoodie male at around his thirties with a map for directions.
"Excuse me, sir, can you tell us where the cave..." says Kitty politely before the male screams in fear and cuts off her words, runs away as he threw the map away like a scarycat.
"What a creep. Cutting you off like that," says Jose as he was not amusee by how the dude interrupted Kitty. Then, he grabs the map and looks around at the directions, and he found the location of the cave.
"Here it is!" he says.
"Hold on, Jose," says Puss as he saw something weird. He lookee on top of the map, and saw the name of the town.
"Hahahahahahaha!" he burst off laughing as Kitty and Dulcinea looked at the joke and they laugh as well.
"Puss, Kitty, Dulcinea. Why are you laughing?" Jose says as he was so confused
"It's Santa Monica, not San Monica," says Puss as he continues to laugh along with his friends. Jose lookee at the map, and he was so wrong, because he got the name of the town so wrong from the start.
"Oooh! Hahahahahahahaha!" Jose laughs too, clearly was in total agreement that he made a mistake, which everyone soon after smiles upon each other.
"Let's go!" says Jose as the rest of his friends nods and ride with their horses, Babieca, Rocky, Sweetness, and Kitty's horse, to the cave of Santa Monica. The team traveled peacefully for two hours. Then, in five o'clock in the afternoon with the sun rising down, the team made it to the cave of Santa Monica.
"Finally, we're here!" says an excited Jose as he got off Rocky and was running towards inside.
"Jose, wait up!" says Dulcinea as she giggles and rapidly gets off Sweetness and followed him. Puss and Kitty laughs for a while as they were happy seeing his friend playing for a while. Kitty then looks at Puss and see this smile, a smile of happiness, something she never saw from him since his San Ricardo days for the short time she was with him. Is almost like Puss feels like home whenever he's with his two best friends in the whole world.
"Hehe, you always seem to be happy when they're around you," says Kitty, acknowledging Puss as she got off of her horse and walked inside the cave. Puss gott off of Babieca and he stood there for a moment looking at Kitty, Dulcinea, and Jose, and he was happy and his heart never felt this much upbeat and smiley before.
"Yep. They sure are," says a smiling Puss as he follows his friends towards the cave.
Jose, Dulcinea, Kitty, and Puss were slowly marching inside the cave, this time brighter than the previous caves and sorta temples they've been on this journey, and they were slowly but surely prepared for any kinds of danger.
"Jose, how much closer are we to the next key?" says Puss as Jose senses the location of the treasure.
"We should be close," he says as his friends were confident that their adventure is nearly completing. Then, six minutes later, they stumbled upon an old temple and they saw a treasure chest.
"Look, everybody!" says Dulcinea as she points the chest to her friends, who were in awe by looking straight at it.
"Huzzah!" Puss saysbit pridely as he runs to the chest.
"Puss!" Jose laughs as he runs to follow his friend. Kitty and Dulcinea look into each other and laughs it off as they were happy for theor friends and they run to the chest, too. The team arriver there and were so excited, that they wanted to jump so emotionally happy about their teamwork in this amazing journey that they are together.
"Care to do the honors, Gato con Botas?" says Jose as he offers Puss to open the chest. Puss smiles and gives Jose a nodly smirk.
"Com mucho gusto, Jose," says Puss as he steps foward. Jose, Kitty, and Dulcinea all looked as they await for Puss in Boots to open the crate and reveal the third key for their Chaos Emerald treasure can come to an end do they can move on and find it.
"Here goes nothing," says Puss as he breathes and blows his paws and shakes it so he can cool of hi nervousness of excitement. Then, everyone look at Puss as he slowly opens the treasure chest. Once the chest was open. Everyone gasps in shock as they see an unspeakable and unbelievable truth...
"It's empty?!?!" everyone says it in total shock.
"I... I don't understand. The third key was supposed to be here. There's no way it isn't," says Jose as he felt very disappointed in himself.
"Is okay, Jose. I'm sure someome must had got it before we did. I just hope it wasn't found by the wrong people," says Kitty as she puts her paw on his right leg, sobbing his pants, to calm him. Jose looks at her and he smiles a little bit.
"She's right. We must keep lookong for it," Dulcinea says as she smiles, while her friends nods in agreement. They slowly walker towards the exit, but Dulcinea suddenly felt something wrong, as sje looks down and sees some claw marks.
"What's this?" she says in a mysterious tone as she bends down and takes a closer look at those marks. As she was analyzing those matks, she has never seen such a strong, long, and powerful mark as thoae claws. She then started to sense its source, and she could feel the horror, the nightmares, the power, the rage, and a dark presence within those claws, and she wws terrified for what she just sensed. Then, she quickly turns her head around and sees her friends seeing her because they saw her fearful and sad mood.
"Dulcinea. What is it?" says Puss as he bends down and holds onto her left shoulder, giving her someome to comfort. But Dulcinea then realized something. The easy map towards this cave, their failure of reaching the treasure on time, the mysterious and sudden claw mark insode this temple. It all made sense for some reason. Then, she gasps in shock as she realizes something as Jose was slowly taking a few step backs, unaware of a sudden X mark was behind him.
"Jose, no! It's a trap!" Dulcinea yells at him as Jose looks at her confused but it was top late because he already touched the X mark.
"Ahhhh!" Jose screams in a sudden pain as some electricty shockwaves beneath the ground hits him hard and falls unconscious.
"Girls, behind me!" says an deeperate Puss as he, Kitty, and Dulcinea got on their backs and took out their swords with their determined growls, ready to defend themselves against some unknown enemies. But then, an arrow struck on Kitty's chest as Softpaws was screaming in pain by that shot of the arrow, like a sniper, as the arrow carrier a poison and Kitty was slowly closing her eyes.
"Kitty!" Puss and Dulcinea yelled in concerned voices as they see Kitty dropping her sword and falls to the ground in defeat. But just as they slowly went to check on her, suddenly a beast with enormous claws, the same claws that were marked below the ground, ran as fat as a cheetah and slashed the paws of Puss and Dulcinea, quickly disarming their weapins, and a black hoodie figure, revealing the General known as Genaral Rival, quickly fired her arrow below them and firer a huge bright light. Puss and Dulcinea groaned in pain as the light got to their eyes and closed them, leaving for Rival and her beast, who was the createe beast known as Weapon24, deliver thunderous punches to their jaws and quickly knocked them out cold.
"Nice work," says Rival as she pleases her partner for their work, but the beast snarls as he didn't said a word, like a mindless monster.
"Boss, we found them," she says, informing her boss about what just happened.
"Good. Were they known about the plan?" he says.
"Ha! They didn't suspected a damn thing, my lord," Rival says with a huge laugh as she takes out the third key from her jacket pocket, clearly in possession of it for a while, it was a set up from the start to capture Jose and his friends.
"Splendid. Now bring them to me," says the Boss with a small chuckle as he cuts off communications with General Rival.
"Understood. You, carry them and lock them up. Time for our leader to see this boy and his stupid friends!" says General Rival as Weapon24 juat breaths heavily like some brute and carries the defeated heroes with such strength. Then, they took them outside the cave anr locked them up in cages, as Rival and 24 ride off on theor horses and commence their march towards their fortress.
Five hours later: Everything was pitch black. No sounds. No environments. No nothing.
"Jose!" then, a voice disrupts the darkness as the eyes of Jose slowly opened and once it fully opened, he could see the two attackers that captured them, Dulcinea, Puss, and Kitty locked in chains, so does he as he was confused.
"Good, you're finally awake," says a sinisterly voice who was sitting on a chair of a desk, right in between Rival Argentica and Weapon24, and puts up a diabolical chuckle.
"And who the fuck are you?!" says an angered Jose who wants the villain to reveal himself and not hide behind the chair, even though he can see the sinister villain, despite the three cats moans in embarrassment because Jose said a cursed word. Then, in a sudden turn, the black suited man gets off of his chair and gets up, and slowly walks towards Jose while Dulcinea ane friends watched as they grolw at the dude. The villain bends his knees and touches Jose's chin while Jose looks serious at this guy.
"Oh, Jose. You have your father's brown hassle eyes, with a bit of green and blue too," says the evil man as Jose was angry and shock at the same time.
"What do you know about my father, you prick?" he says while Puss, Kitty, and Dulcinea were concerned for Jose.
"There are some things you do not understand yet," he says as the boss moves his head slowly, telling General Rival, aka Agent Cattydude, and his creation Weapon24supersoldier, and they forced the captive heroes up from behind and also forced them to walk in order to follow their leader.
"Who are you and what do you want with us?!" says Puss in Boots in an angered voice and stare as he looks straight at the menacing villain, while the beast hits Puss with a strong knee on his back and Puss groans in pain, while his friends wantee to help him but couldn't because Rival had her arrows ready to fire at them, so they continue to follow the leader, while Puss gets up and follows them.
"Well, kitty cat, my name is Johnny, but you can call me the Reaper of Death, and I have been around here for a long time. What I want from you people is nothing more than to entertain us," Johnny says with a smirk on his face.
"We will never do your bitting, you monster!" Dulcinea shouts as she doesn't want her or her friends to be slaves of his enjoyment. The beast wanted to claw her hard as he releases his claws, but Johnny tells him not to do it, and the beast obeys him.
"Oh, goody two-shoes, you will do what I say. Whether you like it or not. Because your lives, and this whole Cinderella story about the Chaos Emeralds of yours will die by my hand," says Johnny as everyone made their way to the weaponry room. There, everyone saw the army prepping their weapons, testing them, and inventing them.
"I have built this army from rescuing everyone. From orphans, endangered guys, slaves, poor, and all kinds of bad situations these soldiers have been through before I gave them a new home. Including Weapon24, my greatest creation," Johnny says as the heroes clearly doesn't believe in that fat lie. Then, they reached the Arena, where there was a squared-circle ring with three red ropes on all four sides, North through West like order, along with four turnbuckles, two steel steps outside the ring, and millions of fans, mostly his soldiers, enjoying a wrestling match.
"You see here? That's the reward for serving a savior like me. Enjoyment, life, dreams beyond our wildest imaginations. A guy like me wants what's best for the world. And this Chaos Emeralds, is the key. I have been searching for it for many years, me and Edwin did," says Johnny as Jose was surprised by this. His family never told him about this in any lifetime.
"You mean killing their families and kidnap your so call "soldiers"... And my father would never help a bitch like you!" Jose says angrily, denying this false claims, while Johhny simply smirks it off, ready to tell a story to Jose and his friends.
"Ah Jose, you never knew your daddy like I did. You see, Jose, you father started our adventure for that treasure for years, but we only found one key, the one that you guys so eagerly wanted to grab and was so perfectly usee to spring our trap and capture you four insignificant imbeciles. Anyway, one day we have discovered the remaining two locations of the keys, which we did stole from you. Is okay, we did mere copies, we got the keys back to you since those will be useless once we open the gates and reveal the last location of the Chaos Emeralds. But your father, Jose, felt jealous because we, no... I was about to save everyone from future dangers to our world. And he burned our fortress down, taking the maps with him. He betrayed my soul, my heart, my trust. Six years later we found him, with his new girl and a young you, and we killed them all. Well, that is until I've found out you were alive," says Johnny with such depth, brutal honesty, and look deep into his dark past, as Jose was more angry than ever.
"My father... would never be your slave! And even if he did, I'm sure in my heart that you are a monster and he deetroyed this fortress because the world would be in danger from liars from you!" He says with such passion.
"Watch your mouth, bitch boy!" says Rival as she takee out her sword and puts it close to his neck.
"Now Nina, relax," says a calmly Johnny as Rival breathes and slowly relaxed herself, letting go of her sword on Jose's neck.
"Ah, Jose. You will soon realize that you will die soon, just like your father. Because you share his stubbornness and stupid brain and heart. And your friends will die too... well, one of them, by your hand," says Johhny as he and his most trusty henchmen were chuckling so villainously, while Jose, Puss, Kitty, and Dulcinea were so confused and mad at the same time.
"What do you mean by that, devil?" says Kitty with a soft but deadly snarl on Johnny.
"Well, Kitty was it? Hear me out. Like your orange ginger friend asked me before, what I want from you guys is nothing more or less than entertain us. Every day, we make one wrestling match, but as you see, we are bored from the same and repetitive matches. We want something new. Is simple, a one on one match, with DQs, no count outs, and you can win by pinfall and submission..." He says as he slowly circled around his captured enemies and smackee hard the butts of Kitty Sotpaws and Dulcinea, which Puss in Boots and Jose were mad at it but the beast and Rival put their weapons on them like a warning in case they did anything stupid.
"And every time we do this, whoever wins deserves a chance to be free from our work and life theit own lives. But the losers, well... they get demoted and sent to the Krypt for torture. Is a well win deal for both sides. And Jose, you will be our referee for this match between... Two of your cats."
"What!!!!" The four heroes shouts in anger as Johnny wants to force them to fight.
"This is an outrage!" says an angry Puss.
"Okay, okay, how about this? Whoever wins, gets the keys, and the map to the Chaos Emerald's location you guys had, three of you's freedom, and nothing else," says Johnny as Kitty, Jose, and Puss were mixed. They wanted those things, but risking themselves wasn't part of the plan.
"I will do it!" says the brave Dulcinra as everyone was shocked and surprised.
"Dulcinea, no!" says Jose as he didn't wanted yo be the one that puts Dulcinea, or anyone of his friends, to torture if she loses this match.
"Dulcinea, I will not allow you to compete in this trap!" says Puss, being overprotective on his best friend, while Dulcinea grumpa herself.
"Listen, you three. We need the map and the keys to find the Chaos Emeralds. And whether I lose or not, I want to be a part of that team that does whatever ot takes to achieve this goal of ours. So you won't make me change my mind, not ever. So I will be in this fight, Mister Johnny. But know this. If I win, and you hurt my friends, I will come after you, and everyone who stands in the way of my family, and I will beat the Beyond out of you!" says Dulcinea with such passion, such determination, that her friends were silent without responding to her words, accepting the fact that she will fight no matter what. Johnny smiles as he was pleased by this.
"Splendid, little cat. You see, Jose. That's why women will always have the balls to do what needs to be done. Just like your father wasn't able to. By the way, whoever facee her, make up your minds until midnight. We don't want our fans to be angry at out Main Event. Ciao," says a smiley, villainy Johnny as he leaves the place, alongside Rival, while Weapon24 took Jose, Puss in Boots, Dulcinea. and Kitty Softpaws to seperate places, so that they can prepare themselves for the fight that is about to come. Meanwhile, in the jail side of the fortress, Rival checks her watch and hears some news from her soldiers.
"Sir, our guys came in. They say they are thirty-one clicks from reaching El Guante Blanco's hiding place," she says as Johnny was pleased.
"Amazing, Agent Cattydude. Tell them that when they do, kill him. No matter that cost," he says it with such firmly tone, with his hands behind his back, while Rival salutes him as she gave her soldiers the order.
"Nina, I want you to keep our eye on Jose. Try to intimidate him while our match is set," says Johnny with every intention to deetroy Jose's mind and soul.
"It will be done, my lord," says General Rival Argentica as she agrees to his order.
"What will you do now, Sire," says Rival as Johhny chuckles a little while he went to his elevator, pressed a button so he can get back to his office.
"Wait," he says, in a cold, soft, and sinister way, like a Mad Titan. The elevator closes as Rival sees Johnny ascends to his office. Rival slowly walked to make her way to where Jose was headed and do her King's commands.
The heroes faces a tough situation, as the forces of evil are forcing the freedom and capture of one of the next three, Puss in Boots, Kitty Softpaws, and Dulcinea. The fate of the world may lie upon this fight, but to whoever loses it, it may lead them to an unfortunate fate to their lives, and the one that holds their destiny is their best friend, Jose Angel Arroyo Rivera.