Chapter Thirty-One - A Look in the Past
"I don't suppose it's too late to go back. I think I'd rather face Ghetsis now than know if all the rumors about Black City are true."
Rosa tightened her grip on Zaveid's pokeball, fingers trembling even as she shot down Curtis's suggestion with a sideways smile. She didn't want to admit to being afraid, but quite honestly, she felt the same way. "It certainly looks inviting."
The skyscrapers of Black City loomed in front of them, gray mountains of polished glass that pushed through the soot-colored smog until the upper floors of each building disappeared.
Though the sun would not set for several hours, the borders of the city were dark as night. Each structure was built with black marble, so any sunlight breaking through the rolling fog was absorbed and lost. The blue neon lights lining the edges of the buildings compensated a little, but Rosa was still uneasy. It would be too easy to be attacked in one of the back alleys, left to be found by a dawn that would never come.
Shuttering, she drew closer to Curtis, who was stuffing his long hair into his cap like he was trying to hide it. The strands didn't want to stay in place, though. They kept falling back into his eyes even as he stuffed them back into place with his fingers.
"What are you doing?"
He mumbled something inaudible. Rosa's frown deepened. "Don't tell me you've got enemies in there or something. If you're worried about being recognized, you should wait in route fourteen."
"And leave you to wander Sin City alone? Please. That's hardly the gentlemen thing to do."
"Just stick close to me, okay? We aren't even inside yet and the place gives me the creeps."
"Where is it exactly that we're going again?"
Rosa pressed the button on Zaveid's pokeball, and the beam of light materialized into her sealion. She didn't want to draw attention to their little party by having him walk alongside them, but she wasn't sure she trusted the citizens of Black City to leave them alone otherwise. Curtis hardly looked intimidating.
"To an address listed in the front of novel I found near Lentimas Town."
Curtis paused his hair-stuffing to shoot her a puzzled look. "That children's book about Arceus? Why do the old owners matter?"
"You'll find out, if it turns out they have the information I need." She replied, patting Zavied's neck fondly. He snorted and leaned away from her, grumbling. "Now let's get going. I don't want to meet the kind of thugs that place has running the streets at night."
Inside the city was suffocating. The thick inversion clouding the air smelled rancid, a net of spoiled eggs and garbage that didn't match the muckless gutters near the sidewalks. There were casinos everywhere, enormous structures with sparking advertisements Rosa couldn't help but stare at. Clubs as well, with full bars and twenty-four-hour liquor stores. People covered every corner, pulling at each other to enter this club or try that restaurant. It was all Rosa could do to avoid tripping over the vendor's selling their wares on the streets.
She stepped closer to Zaveid, hugging his side, afraid of being separated by the virus of moving Pokemon and people weaving across the roads and walkways. They'd likely need to take a taxi to reach their destination, which according to her map was on the other side of town. If only this street wasn't so packed.
"Evolution stone for your Pokemon, miss?" said a voice in her ear, making her jump.
A tall man in a business suit stood in front of her, offering a tray of glimmering stones. She shook her head and backed away, but only made it half a step before a snake-like woman with glossy lipstick was inches from her face. She leered at Rosa, showing straight bleached teeth.
"Ignore him, darling." She purred, pulling a polished pearl from her pockets. "A jewel like you would prefer jewels to stones, no? €38,000 pokedollars will earn you this pretty piece. A bargain, if you ask me."
"I'm actually in a bit of a hurry, thanks-."
Another appeared. "You'd rather spend your money on this rare bone than any of those trinkets. Wouldn't you, trainer?"
"Or some stardust. Only €10,000 for you."
"Heartscales are more suitable –"
"For a pretty young woman-"
"Such as yourself."
"Rosa! Have you been back here this entire time?"
Rosa reeled, heart pounding, realizing for the first time that Curtis and Zaveid had gone ahead. She tore herself away from the vendors, grateful for an excuse to leave them. Zaveid grumbled as she rejoined his side and hissed nastily at the market sellers, who recoiled and slunk back to their displays.
"Thanks for sticking close." She said accusingly.
Curtis touched the rim of his ballcap, troubled. "You were right next to me, I swear. But when I turned to say something, you were gone. About gave me a heart attack, especially when Zaveid couldn't find you either. There's something about this place . . . like a fog that lulls you into a daze . . ."
Rosa shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and marched to the edge of the sidewalk to hail a cab. Now that he mentioned it, there was something off about Black City, more so than the painted cowboys she'd seen a few blocks back.
The sooner they reached their destination, the better.
"You sure this is the place?" Curtis asked.
"This is the address listed in the book. I don't think we'll be finding the owners here, though."
Her map darkened, then faded to darkness, leaving Rosa to toss her pokedex back in her bag. The apartment they stood in front of was little more than stone and rubble, with boarded windows to keep out trespassers, and blackened walls where a fire had licked the brick.
It looked no less inviting than the rest of the neighborhood, though. Almost every building was boarded off and condemned, a graveyard of apartment buildings left to rot in the lamplight. Trash littered the streets and graffiti covered the walls that remained standing, and the stale scent of cigarretes clung to the air. Rosa could almost believe the street was abandoned, but the chills raising goosebumps on arms suggested otherwise.
"Zaveid, return. Gaston, come on out."
Her Samurott disappeared, replaced by the mischievous face of her fox. As soon as his feet graced the sidewalk, Gaston grinned cheekily and threw his fluffy arms around her waist, burying his face in her stomach. Rosa rubbed his ears, smiling despite herself.
"Yeah, I love you too. Listen buddy, I need you to keep an eye out for trouble. There's something off about this place, and I don't like being snuck up on. Stay behind us and keep close, alright?"
The nose pressed into her abdomen wiggled slightly. She took it as a nod. "Alright then, let's go."
Down the sidewalk to the apartment, Curtis in front. Keeping to his stride, Rosa twisted her arms through the hair hanging by her ears and gathered it into a ponytail. If they were going to be sneaking into an abandoned building, she didn't want to leave loose hairs all over the house.
"Your address said apartment 107, right?" Curtis asked, glancing at her quickly as he approached the front. "Since the first floor has their own doors, it shouldn't be too hard to break in. We just need to find the right number," They turned down the walkway to the right, following the stream of numbers counting up until they found one marked 107, "and break through the window. Gallade, I need you."
His Pokemon appeared, flexing his muscles enough to show definition as he stood like a soldier to bow respectfully to Curtis. That is, until he realized it was Gaston standing beside Rosa, not Anna.
Gallade slouched, sulking.
"Good night." Curtis muttered. "You can flirt later. I need you to cut into this board so we can get inside. Arial ace."
A huff and silver slash in the dim light later, the boarded window was in pieces, and Curtis was crouching to climb inside.
"Whoa."
Rosa swung her foot over the tattered frame to stand upright in the room, though it was hardly that anymore. Chalky paint flaked in fragments against rot-blossomed walls, the thin carpet was stained and torn, and though there was little furniture, what which was left was mutilated.
Gaston lifted his nose to taste the air, and his face twisted in disgust.
"So," Curtis murmured, stepping over a splintered table to approach the hallway, "are you going to tell me what it is we're looking for? Or who owned this place?"
She flipped the light switch, but there was no response. Too bad. It was difficult to see without any lighting. "We're looking to see what kind of family lived here, back before this apartment caught fire years ago. It belonged to a small family called the Harmonias, way before you or I were around.
"Or in other words," Rosa slipped past Curtis to check out the dusty hallway. "This is where Ghetsis Harmonia grew up."
Curtis stilled. She heard his fingers grasp the moldy wood like he'd tripped and needed to catch himself, which may have been the case. He was slightly breathless when he asked, "Are you serious?"
"The front of the book says property of G-Cis Harmonia. I want to know about the little boy who adored a book about Arceus so much that he brought it with him when he moved to Lentimas."
The hallway was covered in glass and wood – were there picture frames hanging here, once? – but there was a door on the right. Rosa took it.
Inside was a bedroom, with an old mattress on the floor and a simple desk by the wall. It was filthy, and old bottles that may have once held alcohol littered the floor. Tightening her grip on her bag, Rosa leaned over to read the label. The words had worn away long ago.
"Whoa." Curtis murmured, stepping in after her with Gaston and Gallade on his heels. "This place is worse off than the living room. You think this was the master bedroom?"
Straightening, Rosa spun in a slow circle, taking in the decaying walls and shabby carpet. "Probably. You know, I always pictured people in Black City being pretty well off, but even before this place was abandoned, I doubt it was anything special. Guess every town has its poverty, no matter how extravagant main street appears."
A sigh. Curtis walked towards the desk, but Rosa saw the flash of sorrow in his eyes. It hurt her too, thinking of the suffering the people in this part of town must have faced. This tiny apartment in the slums wasn't much, but it may have been all this family had. What happened to everyone, after it caught fire? Did it cause Ghetsis to fly off the handle? What happened to his parents? Were they still alive, in another part of Black City? Or gone?
Rosa bent to pick up another bottle. This one's label was legible enough she could make out the word vodka. Rolling it thoughtfully in her hands, she wandered towards the stained mattress to give it a kick.
"Hey Rosa, look at this."
She turned. Curtis was near the desk, in his hands a crumbled paper he'd smoothed to make straight. Taking it from his outstretched fingers, Rosa quickly scanned over the faded lettering.
Eviction Notice
You are hereby notified that you currently owe $_(illegible)_ in past due rent and late charges. You must pay the full amount due as stated in this notice within the next three days. If you fail to make full payment of the amount due, your right to possession on the property will be evicted and-
Rosa tightened her fists, crumbling the paper back into the mess it was before. She didn't need to read the rest of the notice to know what was in it. How many times had she and her mother been close to the same fate, growing up?
"Ghetsis's parents had more financial issues than we thought." Curtis said, taking off his ballcap to run his fingers through his hair. The motion left blond waves sticking up in every direction, but he didn't put the cap back on to fix it.
Gaston stole the crumpled page from Rosa's hand, and she let it go. "Would you mind looking around in here a bit more? I want to check Ghetsis's room."
Throwing the bottle on the mattress, she crossed the hallway to the room across a frightening-looking bathroom. This one had a door on it, but when her palm pressed gingerly against its frame, the rusted hinges squealed.
As it gave way to the room, Rosa gasped and took a startled step back.
On the walls, scrawled in harsh crayon writing in every direction, probably a thousand times over, were three words.
I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AMPERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AMPERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AMPERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM PERFECT I AM
"Oh my Arceus."
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Rosa tip-toed forward to step inside the bedroom. Spiders scurried down her neck and shoulders as the floorboards creaked under her weight. I AM PERFECT filled every inch of every wall, was scrawled onto the shabby desk in the corner, and when she hesitantly scooted over the filthy mattress with her toe, saw it was carved into the cement underneath.
Was he driven mad as a child? She heaved the mattress aside so she could smooth the edges of the jagged writing with her fingertips. It seemed to have been carved with a blade of some sort. There were little bits of yellow foam in the bottom . . .
Rosa turned back to the mattress. The thing was brown and yellow from years of being covered in dust and grime, but that wouldn't cause it to lose padding. Covering her mouth with her sleeve, she flipped the thin bedding onto its back.
There was a hole, large enough for a hand to fit inside. Excitement mixed with morbid curiosity made her heart skip, and without another thought, Rosa was tearing into the mattress with her fingernails.
It came apart in her hands as easily as a petal picked from a flower. Her hands found something smooth and hard.
"Curtis! Come in here, I found something!"
Gritting her teeth, she wrapped her hands around the spine and pulled the book free. The mattress came apart with a great ripping sound, but the spiral-bound journal appeared to be intact. Pokémon adorned the cover, though she didn't recognize any of them. Were they from the Sinnoh region?
Except . . . the journal was empty. She flipped through the pages, this way and that, front to back. Every single page was unspotted.
Well, that's a bust. Why would he scrawl all that stuff on the walls, but leave his notebook empty?
"What did you find, Rosa – Arceus."
Curtis stumbled into the room, eyes wide as he took in the jagged scribbles on the walls. Gaston and Gallade were on his heels, but they didn't see the mess as she and Curtis did. Noticing her distress, Gaston came to wrap his arms around her shoulders.
Rosa handed the journal to Curtis.
"It doesn't make sense." She sighed, rubbing the crimson bush on her fox's head with gentle fingers. "Ghetis left it blank, but it was hidden inside his mattress."
Curtis flipped through the notebook as she had, fanning through the pages so quickly a breeze stirred his hair.
It was obvious Ghetsis had been a disturbed kid. Maybe the journal didn't have any significance at all. Perhaps he'd hidden that as a decoy, and the real journal was somewhere else in the room. There wasn't much else to look through, though. Aside from the mattress, the room was empty.
"What's this?"
She glanced up. Curtis was tugging what appeared to be free pages from the center of the book. Shaking herself free from Gaston's grip, Rosa climbed to her feet to get a better view. How had she missed that?
"Look," Curtis lifted one page of the journal to compare it to the folded computer paper he'd just pulled out. "These aren't part of the journal at all. They're just stashed in here."
Tossing the book to the ground, Curtis hastily unfolded one of them.
It was . . . a drawing?
A cartoon picture of Arceus, drawn in a sloppy child-like style. There was a smile doodled on the Pokemon's face as he formed what appeared to be the world. The second picture revealed a sketch of three smiling people, their hands entwined as they stood under a sun-filled sky.
Rosa stared at Ghetsis's family portrait, mind turning.
"Gaston, my bag on the floor. Get the Arceus book out of it."
She tugged on Curtis's arm to sit him on the floor, then settled down next to him, legs crossed. Balancing the pictures on one leg, she snatched the book from Gaston's outstretched hand and settled it on the leg next to Curtis's.
Hastily, she started flipping through it.
"Rosa, what's going on? These are just some old pictures Ghetsis drew as a child. Tons of kids draw their families, what's the big deal?"
She shook her head. "They're not just any drawings. These represent a little boy's dreams, drawn long ago and hidden away because he couldn't share them with anyone. Not even his parents. Why do you think Ghetsis hid them in a notebook under his mattress?"
Finally, the page she was looking for. Rosa tapped the passage and read aloud. "'For though you are perfect in every way, we all make decisions day to day, That ruin peace, and bring pain and fear.'"
"Okay . . .?"
She made an excited noise. "This was Ghetsis's book! Probably the only one he ever owned as a child. At least one of his parents was alcoholic, and obviously they were having money problems. Maybe so much so they couldn't pay attention to their only son. What do you wanna bet this book was his whole world?"
"English, Rosa. I'm stupid, I need plain English."
"A friend of mine once told me that when Arceus created humanity, he accidentally gave them a fatal flaw. One that wasn't meant to be part of our design. Ghetsis's childhood was miserable. He wanted a happy family, like the one in this drawing! A family he'd never had – could never have - and this book told him the reason why!"
Realization flooded Curtis's gaze. "Decisions ruin peace. So . . . he blames free will for stealing his perfect family!"
She was trembling. This was it. After months of wondering and worrying, Ghetsis's master plan was right in front of her. If she was right, she knew what the leader of Team Plasma wanted.
"Those Plasma members we ran into on our way to Black City. I knew they were acting strangely. They looked lifeless, like they didn't care about anything but serving their master. But they were perfect. Just obedient little dogs to build their leader's kingdom. That's it. That's Ghetsis's master plan. He doesn't want the guardian. I bet he doesn't care at all about the guardian of the universe, aside from getting rid of it."
It made sense. There was an earthquake in Lacunosa town, with an epicenter that didn't make sense. Plasma members were running around without their minds, like living dolls. And Ghetsis was obsessed with perfection. He believed he was the only perfect person in the universe, but everyone else could become that way if their fatal flaw was removed.
"Ghetsis wants Arceus. He wants to steal free will and create a perfect world."