The Heroes' Helpers' Meeting

Mokuba and Guilmon were the first to arrive at the Secret Garden. There he met up with Leon and Rebecca and their Digimon. "I got my brother's research," he informed them. "But…"

"What is it, Mokuba?" Rebecca asked.

The raven-haired lad took a deep breath to compose himself. "I had to tell him about our adventure in London."

The redhead and the blonde gasped at that.

"Don't worry, I kept it brief," Mokuba assured them. "But I had to tell him how we met Basil and how the detective was working to stop the Dark Masters."

Leon and Rebecca were silent for a second. "Well, I guess there's no harm in that," the redhead figured.

The blonde shrugged. "I guess so." She took the folder from her boyfriend and looked at the contents. "At least we can start doing our own investigations and we can share this with our friends." So they hurried to the clubhouse with their Digimon following them.

They entered the clubhouse and saw the rest of their friends getting settled and putting away things they brought with them like more snacks and pieces of entertainment. The kitchen was now full of fruits and vegetables and bread and other various snacks and the refrigerator had drinks like soda, sparkling water, juice, and milk. The freezer contained frozen snacks like ice cream and frozen pizzas.

The bookshelves in the library were also full of books that everyone brought with them from home and the sleeping area was decorated with posters and removable stickers and photos.

"Hey, everyone," Mokuba said, greeting his friends. "Are we all here?"

"Let's do a roll call," said Rebecca. She took a clipboard and called the names of all the club members. She heard everyone's names, meaning everyone was accounted for.

"It's good that everyone's present, because Leon and Rebecca and I have something we want to share with all of you," said Mokuba.

"We've been sharing stories with you guys about our adventures in the other worlds," Rebecca began. "Well, during these adventures, we've made some newfound enemies."

"They're called the four Dark Masters," Leon said.

"The four Dark Masters?" Rini echoed.

"My father and I have heard of them," said Olivia. "They're said to be the most dangerous, most dastardly villains of our worlds."

It didn't surprise Mokuba, Rebecca, or Leon that the mouse girl would have heard about the Dark Masters, considering that her world was threatened by them. "Well, that's true," said the blonde. "And we've been doing some research on them." Together, she and Mokuba and Leon took the pictures of the villains and taped them on the whiteboard in front of the meeting room. "These are the four Dark Masters."

Rin and Kohaku gasped as they saw the minister's image. "That's the scary man we saw when we came to visit Quasi," the girl realized.

"So he's a Dark Master," the older boy said.

Then Olivia remembered. "Leon, you mentioned having a friend back in Paris." Seeing him nod, she wonders, "Tell me, is the bell ringer the friend you were talking about?"

"Uh, yeah," he sheepishly replied. "Though I'm surprised you know about him."

"My father and I have heard about the minister keeping a misshapen human locked up in the bell tower of Notre Dame," the mouse girl explained, "convincing the public that he was a hideous monster."

"Oh, but Quasi isn't a monster at all," Rin told her. "He's our good friend and he's very kind and understanding once you get to know him."

"It's really his master you have to worry about," Kohaku said, remembering the story from Mokuba, Rebecca, and Leon.

"Quasimodo doesn't know that Frollo is a Dark Master," Mokuba informed his friends. "We need to make sure it stays that way for the time being."

"Why?" Shippo wondered. "Shouldn't he know?"

"There are a lot of things Frollo doesn't want Quasi to know," Leon was saying. "Mostly for his own benefit. But it's also for our own good." And he explained the consequences that would follow if the hunchback were to ever learn the truth about the secrets that were being kept from him.

"We can still visit our good friend whenever we want to," Rebecca assured them, "Just as long as we're careful."

"We should bring him back here," Rin suggested.

Rini smiled nervously. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I'm afraid Rini's right," the blonde said sadly. As much as she supported Rin's suggestion, she didn't want to risk getting the hunchback into trouble. There was always the chance that Frollo could spot Quasimodo being out in public with the children and that would more than likely follow up with a harsh punishment.

"What about the other Dark Masters?" Shippo asked. "Have you met them yet?"

"Not yet," the redhead answered. "But there is a chance that we might. Until then, we're thinking we should find out what we can about these guys, such as what they want, their evil deeds, and how we can stop them from achieving whatever they're planning."

"However, in the process, we should keep all of this private," Mokuba advised his friends. "That means anything we discuss regarding the Dark Masters stays between us and is not to be shared with any other friends or family back home in any of our worlds."

All of the friends looked at each other. They were usually good at keeping secrets. Guilmon had a question, however, so he raised his hand. "Will this be like taking the oath not to tattle tale?"

"It will be exactly like that," his partner answered. "We'll make an oath of secrecy." The club members gathered around and placed their hands together. Mokuba decided to speak the oath with his friends repeating after him. "As a heroes' helper, I swear to help my fellow heroes. But I must also keep any valuable information to myself and not share with anyone who is not a member of this club. For if I do, I am to be removed from the Heroes' Helpers club." And everyone removed their hands.

"It's settled," said Leon. "Anything we share regarding the Dark Masters stays between us."

"But there is one exception we can make on the matter," Rebecca said. She turned her attention back to the rest of the club members. "You see, while the boys and I were in London, after spending time with Olivia, we met a detective named Basil, who is also a mouse."

"What's a detective?" Rin asked.

"An investigator of sorts," the blonde answered. "Someone who looks for clues when it comes to solving crimes and mysteries and bringing criminals to justice."

"Do you mean Basil of Baker Street?" Olivia asked. She had read about his cases in the newspapers her father would sometimes read.

"The very same," said Mokuba. "Basil wants to help stop the Dark Masters too and we promised him that if we had any new information about them, then we could come to him."

"But right now, he's the only one we can disclose any information to," said Leon.

"How are you going to get more information on the Dark Masters?" Shippo wondered.

"We'll do as much research as we can here at the clubhouse," Rebecca said. "But if worse comes to worse, we may have to confront those villains."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Rin asked.

"Perhaps," the blonde replied. "But so long as we're careful, say, hiding under the enemy's nose, then we should be on the safe side." She smirked and said, "That's one of the best skills of being a sleuth."

"Although, some would consider it snooping," Leon said, "sticking our noses where we shouldn't like we're looking to dig up some scandal."

"Hey, if Basil can do it, we can do it," Rebecca argued. She began to wonder if she could convince the detective to teach her and her friends a few skills for working undercover. But she was also troubled by the thought of seeing him again after what happened before they left London. The children didn't exactly part with the detective on good terms and the blonde did feel bad for talking to him the way she did before they left. Maybe it would be an opportunity for her to apologize to him.

Mokuba looked back towards the others. "Anyway, we have our ways and if any of you guys want to help out, it's much appreciated."

Rini nodded. "That's part of our job as heroes' helpers, isn't it?" I'll see what I can do."

"Me too," said Shippo. "And I promise not to tell anyone." Rin and Kohaku nodded.

"In that case," Mokuba was saying, "why don't we close the meeting and spend the rest of our time here having fun?"

Everyone agreed. Just like before, the club members began exchanging stories about themselves and playing games. Olivia even invited everyone to come back with her to her world to see where she came from. All of the club members liked the sound of that. The lot of them were curious to know what London was like. But the question was, would they be able to handle being turned into mice once they would arrive? They were just going to have to wait and see.