Wes and Rui stared at the Disk that was in Wes' hand. Why did someone from Cipher have it? What is it for? What does it do?
"I think we should take this to the Kids Grid." Rui suggested making Wes look at her curiously.
"Why?"
"They have a lot of knowledge about Cipher, and they've probably been down here in the Under for quite some time. Maybe they might be able to tell us some things about this disk."
Wes thought about the theory for a moment and nodded his head.
"I guess it's worth a shot." He said.
With that said the two of them made their way to the Kids Grid.
When the group arrived they went inside and found nobody around.
"Hey Nett are you in here!?" Wes called.
Suddenly footsteps were heard around the corner and a boy came out from beyond it. However it was not Nett but Bitt.
"Oh hey guys." He said with a smile.
"Hey we're looking for Nett. Is he around?" Rui asked.
Bitt shook his head in response.
"He went above ground to talk to Marcia but maybe I can help you. What do you need?"
Wes took the disk out of his pocket and showed it to the boy.
"Well we got this from a friend but we have no clue what it's for. It has the letter "R" on it.
Bitt took the disk from Wes and examined it. After a moment his eyes lit up in realization.
"I know what this does!"
"What?" Wes and Rui asked in unison.
"Come with me." Bitt said motioning for them to follow him.
He led the group into a back room with a computer inside it. Bitt sat down in the chair began typing up something on the keyboard. A map then appeared on the computer screen and then Bitt turned around and looked at Wes and Rui.
"This is a map of the Under that we stole from Ciphers archives."
"Okay but what does this have to do with that disk?" Wes asked.
Bitt pointed at a red dotted line.
"Do you see this line?"
Wes and Rui nodded.
"This is a line that shows where the rail cars around the Under go to. They can take you all sorts of different locations around here. And these disks power those cars."
Bitt then pointed at a small chart on the bottom right of the screen.
"This chart tells which disk will activate which car it corresponds with however this disk leads to a restricted area which is Venus' studio.
"What this goes to Venus' studio!?" Rui asked with surprise.
"Yeah she uses that studio for her broadcasts."
Wes couldn't help but grin.
"Looks like we just snagged ourselves a key to Venus!" He said.
Bitt gave the disk back to him.
"So you guys are really gonna fight Venus?" He asked.
Wes and Rui nodded.
"We have to take Cipher down and their three admins have very powerful Pokemon that we need to catch." Wes explain. "But it's not just that. Things have gotten personal between us and them and it's now up to us to destroy them once and for all."
Bitt simply nodded his head.
"Well I wish you the best of luck but I highly recommend that you be careful. I Heard Venus is one tough trainer so I can imagine she won't be easy to beat."
"I don't care how strong she is." Wes said. "I'm going to take her down no matter what." He then turned to Rui. "Come on let's get over to the rail car that leads to her studio."
Rui nodded her head and the two left the Kids Grid and started making their way to their destination and potentially their target.
Reina made her way to the upper floors of Cipher's headquarters to go and check on the video feed on the security cameras that had been placed throughout The Under. Her reunion with Wes and the events that had followed left her in a state of sadness. She was so happy to see him again for the first time in ten years but now they were from completely different worlds and neither of them could be together because it would only end in disaster. Either he would be defeated by Cipher and killed by Gonzap or she would be killed for betrayal.
She passed two guards who were stationed near the security. However she stopped in her tracks and out of the corner of her eye she saw both of them staring at her backside with lecherous grins. Reina didn't believe but she was a very attractive young woman and quite a few new recruits in cipher have tried to hit on her only for each one to be met with rejection.
However she was not in a good mood and with a frustrated sigh she turned around and slapped one of the peons hard on the cheek making his helmet fly off. He fell to his knees holding his stinging cheek which now had a large red hand print on it. The other peon stared at Reina in fear.
"As you were!" She snapped angrily at him.
The peon quickly stood up straight like a soldier and faced forward and the peon she slapped quickly did the same.
As one of Ciphers higher ranked soldiers and as Venus' personal enforcer. Reina had control of the new recruits and lower ranked soldiers.
With a frustrated sigh and one final glare at the two perverted soldiers she turned around and walked away.
"If I catch either of you staring at me like that again. You'll find out just how hard I can kick." She said angrily.
After a few minutes she arrived at the security room. However she went inside she gasped in shock to find Venus frowning at her.
"L-Lady Venus" Reina stuttered with a frightened expression.
"Reina you have some explaining to do. Come over here." She said sternly.
It was extremely rare for Venus to ever be angry with Reina. Never the less she did as she was told and went over to her master and mother figure.
"Renia," She began. "I sent you to take care of those two naughty children and when my broadcast was over I came up here to check on your progress. However what did I see when at looked at the video footage?"
With a motion of her hand Reina she instructed Reina to come and look at the video feed. The girl walked over and gasped once again when she saw a black and white recording of her hugging a young boy with a long trench coat and a girl right behind him. Reina eyes were wide in fear she didn't expect anybody to discover this so quickly but then again what did she expect with two of Ciphers most wanted running around in the under and the security constantly being increased.
Venus walked over to her side and watched the video with Reina before closing her eyes.
"How could you Reina?" She asked with genuine sadness. "How could you betray us like this? After all we've done for you. You stab us in the back by hugging our enemy and letting him continue to wander let him free. How could you heart Cipher like this Reina? How could you break my heart by betraying me? I care about you and I thought you cared about me."
Reina instantly became scared and faced Venus before dropping to her knees.
"No please Lady Venus!" She begged. "I didn't betray you! It's not what you think! Yes, I admit that I hugged Wes. That's because in the moment I was so happy to see him. He and I grew up together before you took me in. However when those masked men attacked our village I thought he had died. When you told me about a boy named Wesley attacking Cipher I didn't think it was him."
"Childhood friend or not Reina, I explicitly ordered you to capture him and bring him to me. Why did you let him go?"
"I-I was scared." She said sadly. "I was very protective of Wes back when we were kids and I guess I still am now. I know we're now enemies but he's still like a little brother to me. I-I didn't want to see him get hurt."
Venus looked into Reina's eyes. She looked like she was about to cry. Venus wanted to be angry with her but for some reason she couldn't be. Perhaps it was because she had more of a heart than anybody in Cipher, perhaps it was because she had an understanding that it can't be easy for Reina to hurt her childhood friend and that she was was stuck in the middle of a personal battle, or perhaps it was her motherly side towards the girl preventing her from being angry.
"Reina..." She said softly reaching out for her.
"Well this is certainly an interesting turn of events." A new voice said.
Venus eye's widen in surprise and Reina tensed up in fear. They both knew who that voice belonged to.
They turned around and saw Nascour standing at the entrance with his arms crossed and smiling evilly.
"In all honesty I never expected Reina to be a childhood friend of Wes." He said.
Reina immediately dropped to her knees.
"Master Nascour please forgive me I know Wes is our enemy. I didn't mean to let him go. I promise I'm loyal to Cipher and will be for the rest of my life. Please forgive me, I'm begging you."
Nascour simply put a hand up signaling Reina to be silent.
"Calm yourself my dear, I'm not angry." He said. "In fact I this is could be just the move we need to bring Wes down for good."
A cold chill ran down Reina's body.
"I-I don't understand sir." She said.
"Wes is somewhere down here in the Under." Nascour began. "There's no doubt he's looking for Venus so he could take the Shadow Pokemon she possess. However you are her personal enforcer and she trusts you with her life."
Reina looked at Venus who nodded with a soft smile.
"As such you could protect Venus." Nascour continued. "And because of Wes' relationship there's no way he could attack you, and that weakness of caring for you would give you you're chance to defeat him."
Reina really didn't like where this was going.
"M-Master Nascour, what are you saying?" She asked fearing the answer.
"Is it not obvious?" He replied. "You are going to fight and defeat Wes."
Reina's blood ran cold and she looked at the ground in disbelief. She was being ordered to fight her childhood friend. She was being ordered to fight Wes. How could she do something like that?
Suddenly memories of her and Wes' time together as children played through her mind as well as their reunion earlier today.
"No..." She said quietly.
Nascour's smile disappeared.
"Excuse me?" He asked.
"Please don't ask me to do this Master." She said looking up at him with fear in her eyes. "Please don't ask me to fight Wes."
Nascour frowned.
"Reina you will fight Wes. That's a direct order from me. I don't need to remind what the punishment is for betrayal and disloyalty"
"I can't!" She nearly shouted. "He's my best friend! I can't fight him!"
Nascour glared at her.
"Are you really sure you're still friends?" He asked. "You have been with us for ten years. In that time you have helped us do many things that people would consider evil and horrendous. Wes is our enemy and you are aligned with us. Imagine how he must feel knowing you are with us and have shown undying loyalty. In the end Reina you betrayed him."
Tears began to stream down Reina's cheeks as she listened to Nascour's words.
"No..." She sobbed. "No, that's not true! I didn't betray him!"
"Yes you did. Face reality Reina." Nascour said. "You're friendship with him died when you joined us. I expect you to fight and defeat him."
Walking away from the sobbing girl he turned to Venus and looked.
"Make sure she gets this done. Wes will be stopped here." He ordered.
With nothing left to be said he left the security room leaving Venus and Reina alone.
Venus walked up to Reina who continued to stare at the ground as he tears hit the floor. She put a hand on her shoulder making her surrogate daughter look up at her.
"Lady Venus..." Reina whispered quietly sobbing. "Please don't make me do this."
Venus closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Nascour ordered you to fight Wes and you will do as your told." She said firmly.
Reina gasped and jerked away from Venus. She then ran out the security room.
Venus sighed and closed her eyes.
Reina ran to a quiet area of Ciphers Headquarters and sat down against the wall. Nascour's cruel words continued to echo in her head. The only thing she could do now was put her and face in her hands and cry. So that's exactly what she did.
Author's Note: Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
This story is about to hit it's halfway point and things are only going to get much more interesting from here on out. Hopefully I've been able to keep you on your toes with this story so far, and I hope there are some events in the future you won't see coming.
I'll see you all next chapter. :)