"What if the houndooms are in there?"

"It is a possibility, one that will not stop me,"

"no, I get that, what I meant was, what if they kill us? That's all,"

"Please Lucia I need to know, Grimsley would've never trained them to kill...us, right?"

Lucia looked at Bianca's silhouette in the dark. She audibly grunted and continued tampering with the lock on Grimsley's door,

"...Is it true that Helma was never a member of team plasma?" Bianca asked,

"...yes it's true," Lucia answered, "did she tell you?"

"No,"

"...she's comfortable with us...done."

The characteristic sound of the unlocking of a door was heard, and the sound of the metals clashing rumbled right on Bianca's ear. She touched Lucia's shoulder,

"you should go," Bianca said

"are you sure? If the houndooms aren't in there then Grimsley is, no other alternative,"

"I'm sure, thank you,"

"alright." Lucia moved away from the door and hugged Bianca, "it was really nice knowing you friend," she cruelly whispered,

"Come on!"

Lucia laughed mischievously and hugged Bianca once more, sincerely, although only for a fraction of a second, then left her in the dark. Bianca remembered the screeching noise the door made so she tried to open it as slowly as she could, and only enough for her body to pass through. It took some time, but she managed to open it without any noticeable sound, then went inside.

She reached for the faintly bright dot on the wall and turned on the light, just then she heard a rather guttural snore, of the kind only people in the deepest sleep are able to make, and then she heard another even louder one. Bianca froze on the spot and covered her mouth with her hands even though she was not saying anything, her eyes inspected the room as she slowly moved her head from left to right, and only when she lowered her sight she found Grimsley thoroughly dozed off on the ground right next to the bookcase, resting his head on his hands and with a small, filthy gray pillow under them.

It was too late to back down; Bianca knew she had to continue. She went over to the table with the map on top and tried to decipher the meaning behind all the red and black dots and lines on it. Seeing as she didn't have any clue about what that scramble could mean, she focused on finding a more objective sign which would reveal his schemes in a more conclusive way, or at least showcased the specific nomenclature of the dots and lines. Bianca decided to start her search with the drawers on the nearby desk, she moved surreptitiously to open the first one. On the first of the three drawers she found candy, a ton of it, some of it open, but all of it only of the most expensive kind, plus a note that read "None of this is for you." She resisted the soul crushing temptation of taking one and closed the drawer with a silent lament. Then Bianca opened the second drawer and found a bunch of comic books inside; the top one showcased a baroque looking gallade fighting a black mewtwo with horns on the cover, and also a note that read "If you value your own well being it would be wise of you to stop looking around now, p. s. I really, REALLY hope that you didn't take any of the candy."

Grimsley snored again and Bianca gasped audibly, she slowly closed the drawer and then pondered whether to open the last drawer or not, while a palpable rush of anxiety appeared inside her chest. She completely filled her lungs with air, took a beat, and then opened the last drawer, only to find the image of an incomprehensible, demonic monster looking right at her. She closed her throat and caught the scream inside before it could come out, then took the single page containing the malign drawing and placed it face down on top of the desk. In the process, she uncovered something immensely more pleasant to the eye under said page: the portrait of a woman. It was covered with protective glass over it and had a black, simple frame around it.

The portrait showed her heart shaped face, her neck, and only her torso up to just below her shoulders. She had big and long green eyes full of life, equally lively eyebrows that told she was happy, and even though it was only a picture her gaze was powerful, and it was possible to discern many things about her from her eyes. She was lively and adventurous, she yearned for deep connections and she enjoyed teasing her loved ones. All of this Bianca could deduce only from her eyes, then she moved on from them and examined the rest of her. She had a faint beauty mark on her left cheek below her eye, blonde hair parted on the middle, tied into a bun or a ponytail behind her, but loose enough to fully cover her ears. She had a small, pointy nose and a small mouth with red lips forming a faint smile, showing a little bit of her white teeth. She was wearing a light purple shirt, and a silver half moon pendant hanged from her neck.

Somehow the portrait of the beautiful woman seemed familiar to Bianca; there was something in her eyes that made her think she had seen her before. She lifted the portrait and below it she found yet another picture of the same woman, this one without a frame. On the second picture she was sitting on a large rock at the edge of a rocky road, with the blue sky behind her. She was wearing a black leather jacket over a white shirt, and jeans and boots. She had her hair tied down on a visible braided ponytail, which in turn revealed her double pierced ears, and she had a wide and joyful smile on her face.

Bianca remembered that Grimsley was in the room with her, she turned around and saw him with a single drop of drool coming out of his mouth. Then she looked at the painting of Shauntal on the wall which caught her attention. Bianca felt how it somehow called to her, so she went to take a closer look at it carrying the first portrait with her. It was not Shauntal, or the book she had on her lap, or the scenery below her but there was something weird on that picture, and she knew she was looking at the peculiarity but just hadn't pinpointed it yet. She inspected the picture from left to right, from corner to corner, and her eyes stopped dead set on the moon right above Shauntal's head. Only then she realized that the moon stood out from the rest of the painting, and when she noticed it the moon became more beautiful than anything else. And then she saw it. A pair of eyes, her eyes.

The same eyes as those of the woman in the portrait, obviously not green but of the same color as the moon, right at the center of it, looking right at her. It was impossible that was a coincidence. Bianca held the portrait in front of Shauntal's face in the painting, right below the moon, to appreciate the uncanny resemblance better, and then she looked away from it. After she noticed it, it became harder for Bianca to hold her stare at the painting.

Then, she felt yet another pair of eyes looking at her, and felt shivers down her spine. She turned back only moving her head like a ventriloquist's dummy, still holding the picture in front of the painting, and found Grimsley wide awake standing behind her with a perceived, controlled rage oozing from him, even though he looked completely serious. Bianca looked into his eyes and felt the same fear as when she looked at the drawing of the demonic monster, Grimsley looked the same as always and at the same time he looked like never before, as if he had let out the inner darkness that he always carried with him.

"I am not going to kill you," Grimsley said with a monotonous tone, "but I could do it, and I want to,"

"...I understand," Bianca boldly replied, "I have a good explanation for this,"

"I couldn't care less,"

"please let me explain, I think I get what you are trying to do and...!"

Grimsley rushed toward Bianca and swiftly took the portrait from her, while she closed her eyes and tried unsuccessfully to hold onto it. Grimsley grabbed it and held it away from Bianca at the same time he gave her a stare only someone who had experimented the true loss of hope could make. But Bianca wasn't scared, which was probably Grimsley's goal, she was resolute. Instead of cowering, she went over to the desk and grabbed the second picture, while Grimsley's rage increased as he stayed put, he couldn't believe her insolence.

"Just give me a chance to explain," Bianca said. Then she looked at the back of the picture, it had a sentence written on it which read "Only you know who you are and what you can do, never forget, if no one else knows you at least you do, and that's the only thing that matters."

Grimsley's face changed and he let out a deep sigh, however, it was not one of relief or lament, but rather of defeat, of the most sorrowful kind of defeat,

"who is she?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because I care, I care Grimsley, why is it so hard for you to tell me what you are doing here? You are not preparing for war, that is certain,"

"I told you that when we first met,"

"huh...oh yeah, well," Bianca's eyes opened wide, it seemed like Grimsley had been honest, at least partially, with her, "I just found out that some of the people here were never part of team plasma,"

"so?"

"So I remember what you said about building a place for evil people and how that was a complete lie you said just to bother me, how it doesn't make any sense, and then there's this map and so..."

"the map? It's for a casino, I love casinos, you either win or you lose, there's nothing in between. I was going to focus on that now that I had people to do it, but they didn't care, not really, they didn't say anything about it but I could tell. They would've done everything I told them to, those gullible idiots. So I just stopped, to give them some time to realize that they have minds of their own, I don't think I've ever seen them more at peace with themselves, I guess when you're inside a cave nobody can make you feel like you're not wanted."

Bianca's eyes lightened up, a distinctive spark appeared on them at the same time she smiled wide,

"oh my goodness oh my goodness! You want to give the remnants a second chance just like she did with you,"

"...I think it's time for you to leave,"

"no way! Behind that dark and gritty exterior lies a warm and caring center, I knew it, I honestly did,"

"are you serious?" Grimsley's aura of rage disappeared, Bianca's words had led him to complete despair. He continued, "You know, it's fine that you have uncovered one of my deepest, darkest secrets, when you compare it to what sickening, massively perverted, hackneyed cliche storm of a sentence which you have just uttered,"

"come on, it is a cliché for a reason, you aren't made of rocks, it doesn't matter how much you'd like to be, abandon that fake exterior and give in to your most sentimental self, I can tell you have one, show me the truth, or be a rough coward surrounded by a pathetic wall of ignorance and fear,"

"do you value your life? I am THE pathetic wall of ignorance and fear, you need to stop." Grimsley rubbed his forehead in frustration,

"Oh my goodness!" Bianca exclaimed once more.

"You know what, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, I'll just send everybody home and rent a frat or something for the ones that don't have anywhere to go, whatever,"

"no way, you can't do that, you have to stay here with them, you are only saying that because I uncovered your secret but please, you, must, stay here and let them stay here with you,"

"you are breaking the rules, no one can be in here but me,"

"no and shut up, come on! It's over, you are acting like a child and you are way too old...period. You totally want to help them because of how she helped you, oh my goodness! Where is she?"

"She's dead."

Bianca's face went from pure joy to basically almost crying in less than a second,

"if that is a joke it is in really poor taste and I do not appreciate it",

"it's not, it all happened before I joined the elite 4, a long, long time ago, so you don't even need to say you are sorry,"

"I'm sorry,"

"I told you not to,"

"I know...at least this means that there's no real reason for people to try and stop you, don't worry I'll go and tell everyone,"

"tell them whatever you want, people are self absorbed bastards, deep down they are glad that there's a group of people lurking in the shadows that they can come and knock down whenever they please,"

"what?"

"All these people I have down here, the people above are happy they exist because they are the losers, the misfits, the outcasts, even if they had not joined team plasma, even if they had gotten a mundane job or became mediocre pokemon trainers, things wouldn't change, the people above would still boast that they are better than this group of talentless mooks, now, don't get me wrong, I personally stopped and detained some of these mooks when they were trying to take control of Unova; they chose the wrong side and are guilty, they deserve a comeuppance. But, most of them joined team plasma because there was nothing else to do, nowhere to go, and now there's truly nothing for them, not anymore...it's quite a liberating position to be in actually, at least it was for me years ago, and...look...at...me...now. It's basically the same situation for the ones who were never in team plasma, they heard about a group of people living in a cave away from the regular folks and crawled in to join us, it's all the same, losers, the people above need losers to know who the winners are, in conclusion, no one will listen to you, period,"

"yes they will, they have to, because it's the truth."

Bianca put the picture back in the drawer and then turned to face Grimsley and bowed to him. Then she stormed out of the room.