As the Pokemon League Champion, Leon was a rather busy man. He found himself going from place to place, doing photo shoots or interviews, signing autographs and visiting sick children in hospitals. People idolized him, and after all of his hard work, he felt as if he deserved it.
Which is why on this day, he felt rather agitated. He had just finished a meet and greet with some fans, signing autographs and telling a story or two to a few people, but during this, one of his fans made a sideways remark that confused him.
'It's a shame about your brother.'
When he heard that, he began to wonder what it meant. He asked his manager, Big Fat Pauly, to look into it, and on the way back to one of his residences in Wyndon, Pauly passed a large tablet to him. "This isn't good."
Leon looked at the screen, scrolling through. It was some odd forum website, the kind of place where people could spew vile negativity in peace behind an anonymous persona. The place where people complained about their boss, shared classified information and so on. He looked through the page, finding this odd thread unusually disturbing to him, starting with the headline.
'Champion's Brother An Abuser?' it read.
He read through, seeing anonymous people, claiming to be in Stow on Side a couple days ago, witnessing a battle between Hop and another trainer, and the details made him frown. They said that Hop used an unhealthy Pokemon, and even had it attack the opposing trainer.
As he scrolled down, he saw a choppy video from a phone camera, hearing a trainer with a grand aura about him speak to Hop, telling him to change Pokemon, almost begging and pleading for Hop to leave the Pokemon, which he found out was a Rillaboom, out of this.
He kept looking, seeing people talk about the other trainer taking the Rillaboom from Hop, his Pokemon stopping mid battle to carry it to the Pokemon Center. They also spoke about how he struck Hop and continued to berate him for being an idiot. They even said that Hop's right to be a trainer should be questioned.
'Did he get that from Leon?'
'I don't think so, but Leon has to be embarrassed.'
'Y'know… Leon's Aegislash looked a little rusted too…. Maybe it runs in the family'
Leon grit his teeth, lowering the window and throwing the tablet out the window, furious. "Take me to my dumbass little brother." he demanded. Leon had no idea what got into Hop, but he'd make sure that his brother was set straight, even if he had to beat it into him himself.
Over the past couple of days, Dagda and Bede spent the time in Stow on Side, Bede getting to know and understand more about Halflings from Dagda. He told him about everything from the Halflings he knew to the things he'd experienced.
They were at the Pokemon Center, waiting for a nurse to come to them with an update on the Rillaboom. They had heard a large list of injuries and problems with the primate, and Dagda wanted him to rest and recover. He couldn't leave the Pokemon behind, and he had decided that the poor thing would travel with him. He wouldn't let such a mistreated Pokemon ever be a victim again.
A nurse soon came to them, and Dagda smiled to her as she approached. "He's doing alright. He has a lot of untreated burns beneath his fur, so I wouldn't have him do anything for a while. We can release him to you within a few hours if you'd like." she said, and Dagda smiled.
"Thank you. We'll wait for him to be discharged." he said, and the woman nodded, off to check up on the recovering primate. Bede watched Dagda pull out his phone and put it to his ear, an odd look on his face.
"Pops, it's me. Can you do me a favor and have Miko stop by Stow on Side? There's a Pokemon that could use her help. He's been at the Center for days and his recovery isn't progressing as I want it to." he said, and Pops laughed on the other end of the line.
Bede was surprised at the changes he saw in Dagda. They couldn't be explained to him, since he hadn't seen him since Motostoke, but he liked seeing him be more decisive and confident. It was like he'd become the young man he'd seen unharmed by the flames. He liked it.
Within the hour, Miko arrived, the quartet standing outside the Pokemon Center, Miko's guest a rather odd woman. She was tall, rather tall to be sure, but she was incredibly beautiful. Her hair was loosely braided, hanging down her back like a rope made of silk, her white hair and crimson eyes giving her a rather ethereal appearance.
"So you're the kid everyone's talking about? Little… smaller than I thought you'd be." he said, and Dagda blinked. How tall did she think he'd be? The woman was at least six foot three, so exactly how big are the people she was normally around? "Don't bully him, Amy. After all, he's about the same size your husband was when you guys met, right?" Miko quipped, and the woman rolled her eyes.
"Sorry if I upset ya, Kid. I'm Aracion Quickclaw, but you can call me Amy. I came with Miko because she's not big on being alone. Especially not now." she said, and Miko giggled, looking to the ring she now wore on her finger.
When Dagda received the Rillaboom's Pokeball, something he quickly and seamlessly stole from Hop when he slapped him, he handed it to Miko. "Can you get him back to me soon? I want to keep moving towards Circhester, but it seems someone doesn't want me to." he said, and she chuckled.
"Of course. Now, you two enjoy yourselves. Isn't Alli's match in a little bit?" he asked, and Dagda nodded. 'Yeah, I can't wait to see how different he battles." he said, and Miko chuckled, the two women walking away as Dagda and Bede headed towards the stadium.
Sitting in the front row, they waited for the battle to start. Bede sat with his arms folded, an odd aura about him. "I beat this kid a little over a week ago. I don't think he could have changed that much." he said, and Dagda rose a brow. He found himself amused by this.
"Jealous that I, the Dark Messiah, am giving someone else my attention?" he asked, and Bede looked to him, finding his grandiose arrogance rather insulting. He shook his head, growling to himself. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" they heard, turning to Dagda's right.
The man sitting next to Dagda was strong, to be sure, but he wasn't very large in comparison to some of the Halflings he'd met. This man had long, wavy red hair and bronze skin. His features were slightly odd, and his ears were not only pointed, but the same shade of red as his hair. "Not at all, Sir. Pardon my friend if he disturbed you." Bede said, casting Dagda a glare that he only winked at. The man began to chuckle.
"You two remind me of my father and his second wife. I'm Orzhov, Orzhov Quickclaw Hitoawa." he said, holding his hand out for Dagda to shake. When he did, he realized that he noticed two things about his name. Firstly, Quickclaw was the name of the tall woman from before, and Hitoawa was the name he saw in the back of the book on Ransei, as the family name of the six winged cherub.
"You said 'Hitoawa', right? They still exist?" he asked, and Orzhov look at him, half confused and half surprised. "You read an old book about Thorkrom, huh? Well, to put it simply, yeah. You mean none of those three told you our last name this whole time?" he asked, and Dagda blinked. Those three? Did he mean Pops, Loki and Draug?
He wanted to ask, but he turned his head to the field, where Allister's battle was about to begin. He heard the familiar announcer calling out, claiming this would be a legendary battle for the history book and so on. He drowned that out, waiting for the introductions instead.
"Introducing first, the challenger! She's an up and coming trainer with a bad attitude and Dark type Pokemon to match! The younger sister of Spikemuth's Gym Leader, the great singer Piers! Representing Spikemuth, Spikemuth Stadium and her fanclub, Team Yell, 'The Queen of the Concrete Jungle', Marnie!"
Dagda watched the girl come out in a standard white uniform, something vastly different from her usual attire, the crowd cheering and whooping, Team Yell members scattered about the audience. Orzhov whistled. "She's got a lot of fans, doesn't she? This is pretty interesting." he said, and Dagda glanced to him before looking down to the stadium's stage.
Suddenly, the lights went black, and a single light shone on the stage. In that light was, of all people, Kai, wearing an elaborate, Victorian costume complete with a furred neck and jewels all about. It was high class, so high class, Dagda assumed that it was made by Heinreich, not the Troupe.
"Here in this godless land, many suffer." he spoke, his wings spread broadly, many people viewing it as part of the costume, something Dagda paid close attention to. "Some at the hands of tyrants, some at the hands of scum. All suffer at how the Gods forsake them." he spoke, and Dagda tilted his head. This was quite the entrance.
"It is proof that the Gods do not love Galar. They allow it to be destroyed by evil, turning the other cheek. But… there is hope. For you see, wherever Devils roam, Angels follow them."
"And the Angel of Rebellion makes his brothers learn that Devils roam because the Creator allows it. They rebel with him, growing stronger as they revel in their power, revel in their divinity." he said.
Dagda found this entrance, or at least the speech, to be incredible. With it's odd, theatric pessimism, Dagda could tell that Kai wrote it himself. He liked seeing the child's growth, and wondered how the other children fared.
"One of these Angels is called Abaddon, and he is the Angel of the Abyss, a never ending pit of despair that none can return from. When Abaddon swallows the Devils, they suffer far more than any of their victims. And that is why Abaddon named his Abyss. 'The End', he called it. And in ancient Hoennian, it had another name."
"In the language of Ancient Hoenn, Abaddon's Abyss was called 'Minazuki', meaning 'The End of All Things'. And that is what the people of Galar shall witness today. The Arcane Angel of the Abyss, Allister Minazuki."
When he said that, the light on him vanished, and another, red light appeared. Dagda leaned forward in his seat, captivated by this grandiose performance. He felt almost challenged, as if his next performance had to be better than this. He began brainstorming as he looked at the figure in the light.
Standing proudly within the light, was Allister. However, his garb was much different. Taking an inspiration from his father's nefarious past, he wore a pair of black jeans and boots with red laces, and he wore a black tanktop with a large, red gemstone design in the center.
He wore a jacket, a leather thing that went down to a pair of red outlined black gloves, instead of just one half handed glove. And across the knuckles of the gloves, in bold, white lettering, was his name; Minazuki.
His hair appeared wet, hanging about his face in messy locks, almost like seaweed. His huge, glistening purple eyes appeared incredibly eerie in the red light, and his sharp toothed smile glistened against the light, making his teeth look bloodstained.
Dagda watched in awe as Allister cast his arms out wide, much like Dagda had in his battle against Opal, and a massive form began weaving it's way up behind Allister, a familiar pair of unholy jaws and ancient eyes that came to hang over Allister's head with a weave. This wasn't a Ghost type Pokemon with a disadvantage against Marnie. This was Petey, the Dracosaint.
Dagda could tell that this wouldn't be a long battle. Allister had finally grown, much like Dagda. He wasn't a small child, afraid of everything and in fear of his own ability. He was a confident trainer, and to Orzhov, blatant proof that Heinreich's deluded 'visions' held weight.
This wasn't the fearful child he'd known of for decades. This was a powerful young man that could lower his opponent's guard with his small stature before striking. His transformation from 'The Silent Boy of Mystery, Allister', to 'The Arcane Angel of the Abyss, Allister Minazuki' was a direct result of Dagda's frightening charisma and imposing will. He glanced to the young man next to him. Now he understood why even his father had faith in him. He was just like his father. Too strong for his own good.