Hello hello—
super-rat - I'm glad you think so! Keep reading!
angel-in-training312 - Still continuing! I'm on an amazing roll, here...Haha.
Kyo Number 1 Fan - I actually somehow found your fic a few days ago...I'll get around to actually reading it someday. (sweat-drop) But I'll be sure to leave you a review once I do. 8D
Hiro the Wolf - Ah, yes; Venus does need a good reality-check every now and then. O.o Haha.
SkyMaster - You seem to like to repeat that fact often...and that's...um...rather violent...
Dark Angel of the Underworld - Glad you love it. 8D
Special thanks to Hiro the Wolf and Dark Angel of the Underworld for reminding me that the name of Nett's sister is Megg! Thanks so much, you two! (still feels incredibly stupid)
Onward!
May and Brenden followed the girl and her Pokemon all the way to a small house on the edge of the Under, away from most of the other buildings. May stuck close to Brenden, afraid that she might get lost in the shadows.
The girl turned to face them once they were at the front door to the house. "This is my house. My brother Nett should be home. Would you like to come in?"
"Please," replied May fervently. The Under was beginning to creep her out.
"Come on," was the reply. "But please don't touch anything."
She opened the door, and May and Brenden stepped inside, wondering what she had meant by that. Shutting the door behind them, the girl followed. Compared to the gloomy Under, the small house was bright and cheery. May looked around. It was only a single room, with barely any features to it. Strange. In the center of the room, a wide staircase led downwards.
"Nett will be down here," the girl explained. She picked up her Shroomish and started down the stairs. "Follow me."
The two Hoenn Trainers followed her down the stairs. They emerged in a wide room that reminded May of what she had seen of the Shadow Pokemon Lab out in the desert—everything gleamed brightly and looked to be high-tech. A large computer monitor blinked rapidly on one side of the room, calculating some form of...something.
"Nett, we have visitors," called their companion. She disappeared into a side room, the door sliding open. Curiously, May and Brenden followed her.
"Visitors?" A boy sat in front of a much smaller computer monitor, sounding slightly exasperated. "Come on, Megg...You know I'm still trying to figure out why this e-mail keeps bouncing whenever I try to send it..."
Megg stopped beside him, placing her Shroomish on the desk in front of him. "Maybe it's not something so technical like you think it is," she remarked dryly, "and maybe Wes just got a new address."
"Ah," said Nett. Rapidly, he clicked on something. "Maybe you're right...It'd be just like him to forget to tell me..."
"You know Wes?" Brenden blurted before he could stop himself.
"Of course! Everyone knows Wes—he's a hero!" Megg answered proudly. "He saved Orre from Cipher when they were making Shadow Pokemon. My brother Nett and I are part of the Kids Grid, and we helped him out a lot!"
"Wes's PDA was destroyed not too long ago," May spoke up, "so that's probably why your e-mail won't go through."
Nett swiveled around in his chair to take them in. He looked to be only a year or so older than his sister. "How do you know it was destroyed?" he asked, slightly skeptical.
"We're friends of Wes—and Rui—too," May answered, "but a lot of, um, stuff has been happening lately. It has to do with Cipher and Team Snagem."
Megg turned to her brother. "That can't be good, Nett."
Nett surveyed them carefully, looking thoughtful. "Maybe you had better start from the beginning."
May and Brenden each nodded, and began.
Shady reached the rock bottom of the abyss, also known as the Deep. He stepped off of the UFO and didn't bother to watch as it began to rise again, heading back up to the Under to wait for its next passengers.
Instead, he headed for the large door that was basically all that could be seen in the dim, flickering light. As he approached, the door slowly opened, rising up, and admitted him to the Deep Colosseum.
The main lobby of the Colosseum was filled with a scattered handful of Trainers; most of them Miners and Hunters, waiting for the next round of battles to begin.
Shady swept past them all, heading for one of the two sets of double doors at the far end of the room. The receptionist at the front desk eyed him for a moment when he didn't disappear into the doors that led to the spectator's stands, but then looked back down to her forms and paperwork quickly.
In the Deep, it was best to mind your own business.
Shady stepped into the long, narrow hallway, letting the doors slam behind him. Supposedly, this was where all the Cipher Admins had hid after Wes had defeated them at the Realgam Tower—that is, until Wes had come down to the Deep to uproot them again; defeating them all for a third time in battle.
Losers.
He made his way down the hall, passing several doorways. He had been down here once before, and he knew that the room Nascour would want to use would be the one at the very end of the hall. Shady approached the door and slipped inside the office-room.
"Hey, kid," a voice greeted him. Agnol, the Deep King—or so he called himself—lounged back lazily in the chair behind the desk in the wide, spacious room. He flexed his muscles, stretching. "You look familiar. Don't tell me you're the same kid who Snagged my Shuckle a couple years back."
"I'm not him," Shady said icily. "I'm here to meet with Nascour."
"Oh yeah...He dropped me a call yesterday, mentioning that he'd be in. You know, you do look just like the kid who Snagged—"
"I don't care," Shady interrupted him. He moved a few paces sideways from the door and leaned back against the wall, arms folded. "Did Nascour mention when he'd be here?" he demanded. He had no desire to stay and make small-talk with Agnol.
"Should be here soon, I think," was the breezy reply.
Great.
Megg looked horrified by the conclusion of their grim story. She turned to her brother, holding onto her Shroomish tightly once more.
"We have to help them out, Nett! This is terrible!"
Nett nodded, looking just as grim as Brenden and May. "So that's why you need a D-Disk, so you can follow this Shady person."
May nodded. "Yes please."
Nett gave them a grin despite the situation. "You have the full support of the Kids Grid. We'll help you out with anything you need." He began to fish around in a messy drawer at his desk.
"Thanks," Brenden answered. They were extremely lucky that Megg had happened to overhear his and May's conversation beside what he know knew was called the UFO...
"Here." Nett produced a small, thin disk from the drawer and handed it to May. "I made this a couple years back. It has all the disks compiled into one: D-Disk, U-Disk, R-Disk, and L-Disk. You can take the UFO anywhere now, and you don't even have to carry four disks."
"Thank you so much, Nett!" May said brightly, handing the disk to Brenden. "I'm so glad we met you."
Nett nodded. "Me too. The next time you see Wes and Rui, give them our best. And this." He handed Brenden two PDAs. "Slip one to Wes or Rui, and keep one for yourselves. This way, we can all keep in touch."
"Good idea."
"And tell Rui and Wes good luck and to be safe!" Megg added.
May got the impression that the girl had a mild crush on the Snagger. "We will," she promised.
"Good luck and be safe to you as well," Nett said. "My e-mail is already programmed into both of the PDAs. E-mail us if you need help with anything. I'll let you know if we hear anything too."
Brenden nodded. "Thanks. Let's go, May."
He and May left the Kids Grid base, making their way back to the UFO. Now that they approached the control panel on the edge of the abyss, Brenden slid the disk into the correct place, and a small light blinked beside faded words that read "D-Disk."
Quickly, May and Brenden boarded the UFO, and then stood still as they drifted down to the Deep.
Ein carefully poured a dark red liquid from a small beaker into a smaller test tube, noting how his concoction bubbled slightly. Delicately, he set the beaker down and scribbled a small sentence quickly beneath his notes, and then turned his attention back to the beaker.
Excellent.
Before he had added the red liquid, there had been a deep blue liquid simmering at the bottom of the test tube. Now, the combined liquids bubbled gently, and was dark purple in color. Satisfied, Ein carefully placed the test tube into the freezer to let it sit.
Perfect, perfect, perfect.
Shady straightened when Nascour glided into the room, and even Agnol—finally—stopped talking. Nascour came to a stop, glancing first at Agnol and then to Shady, his crisp black suit blending slightly with the shadows of the dully-lit room.
"Leave us," Nascour said, his gaze flickering back to Agnol.
The Deep King climbed to his feet. "Of course. I'm on my way to a Colosseum battle anyway." He sounded indifferent. He strode past the other two, disappearing into the narrow hall, shutting the door with a click.
"You're here in place of Gonzap?" Nascour turned his full attention to Shady.
He nodded. "Yes sir," he said calmly, keeping his voice politely respectful.
"Give this to Ein." Nascour produced a sealed envelope from the depths of his suit's jacket, handing it over to Shady. "In private. No one is to know of this other than Ein, and obviously yourself. If you fail me, you will die." He started for the door, as if to leave.
Shady slipped the envelope into his coat. "What of Wes?" he asked carefully.
"I'll leave you to decide what to tell Gonzap." Nascour glanced back. "However, he is not to die yet." There was slight warning in his voice.
Shady nodded. "Right."
Nascour left without further word, disappearing into the hallway.
Shady remained where he was for a few moments, thinking. He was slightly curious as to what the sealed envelope in his coat contained, but wasn't about to fully investigate—it would be very obvious if he broke the seal. Nascour worked directly for Evice, but something about the way Nascour had ordered him to present the envelope to Ein in private made Shady feel as if even Evice did not know what his right-hand-man was up to. Interesting.
He gave a faint hint of a smirk. This was getting to be fun.
May followed Brenden into the main lobby of the Colosseum, looking around for any signs of Shady. The lobby was eerily empty; a round of battles must have just started.
"I didn't know there was even a Colosseum down here," May whispered to Brenden.
"Neither did I," Brenden replied in a low voice. "Do you think Shady went out into the spectator's stands?"
"I don't think so," May answered, sounding doubtful, "I don't think he and Nascour would exchange information where so many other people might overhear..."
Brenden nodded in agreement.
"But if he didn't go there," began May, still doubtful, "then where else could he have—"
Shady appeared from one of the two sets of double doors on the other side of the room. His appearance was so sudden that they both froze as his gaze snapped up to see them, and he came to a stop.
"Imagine seeing you here," he said, the first to recover. He took a step closer, and Brenden moved slightly ahead of May so that she was behind him. "How did two Hoenn Trainers manage to find a D-Disk to get down here?" he asked mockingly.
"Came with a tourist package," Brenden answered automatically, keeping his voice steady. He was very aware of the fact that they were at the bottom of a very deep hole and the fact that Shady probably still had his gun.
"Doubtful," Shady drawled. He took another step forward, and hissed, "I don't know how you managed to follow me all the way down here, but I'm going to make sure that you don't follow me back up."
"So you want to draw attention to yourself and Cipher by shooting us here?" Brenden asked, keeping his voice just as low.
Shady smirked. "You're a tourist, so let me enlighten you to one little fact: this is the Deep. What happens down here stays down here." He allowed them to see a flash of metal—his gun.
May glanced at the Colosseum receptionist. She kept herself busy, keeping her eyes glued to her paperwork, and pointedly ignoring the three Trainers in the lobby. May looked back to Shady, afraid to move.
"We followed you down here to see what you were up to," Brenden said, keeping still. "If you're going to kill us, at least enlighten us a little more."
"That won't be necessary," was the flat reply.
Suddenly the door behind the receptionist's desk opened, and a tall man strode into the room, announcing in a booming voice, "Victory goes to the Deep King once more!" He stopped, and spotted the other three Trainers. "You're still here, Shady! Has Nascour really already left? Care to pick up our conversation where we left off?"
"I have business elsewhere, Agnol," Shady replied icily, "if I'm to meet Nascour's expectations."
"Pity. Well, I'm sure I'll be seeing you."
"Sure." Shady threw Brenden and May a nasty look and then swept away, leaving the Colosseum. Brenden got the impression that he wanted to put great distance between himself and this Agnol person.
"Go out for a battle to challenge me," Agnol encouraged them, before disappearing into the same set of double doors that Shady had appeared from.
"That was close." May sagged against Brenden for a moment, relieved, as the lobby was suddenly crowded with people who had just watched the Colosseum round of battles.
"Yeah," agreed Brenden, resisting the urge to sink to the floor where he stood, just as relieved as May was. "That was too close. I think that just about ate up the rest of our good luck." He paused. "We can't let him see us again, or next time he really will shoot us, no matter where we happen to be."
May nodded. "Yeah..."
"Come on. Let's at least somehow get one of the PDAs that Nett gave us to Wes and Rui," Brenden said, shouldering his way through the crowd. "We might not have figured out what Shady was up to, but now we have a few more allies."
The two Hoenn Trainers left the Colosseum to catch a ride on the UFO, heading back up to the light.
Hmm...All this fishy behavior...What could all these Cipher-people be up to? Any intelligent guesses?
Haha.
Till next time. 8D