"That was awesome, Allister. You really pulled that act off pretty well." Dagda said, being joined by Allister after his victory. The small Halfling smiled, finding himself unbothered by the random stares and glances he received from passersby. "Thanks. I watched a few of your other battles with the kids. We wanted to do something together before they left Galar." he said, and Dagda tilted his head.
"They're leaving Galar?" he asked, and Allister nodded, his hair having dried during the match, looking slightly bouncier than normal. "Yeah. Mr. Raijin decided that until you actually become Champion, it'd be best for them to spend a little time with their new families. Grimsley is stopping by in about a week to pick up Kai. And Zara's new family is already here. It's some man named Orzhov." he said, and Dagda hesitated.
The small, white haired girl that didn't speak much was being adopted by the guy that sat next to him? Dagda and Bede cast a knowing gaze to each other, both of them finding it rather odd. Dagda was distracted by this, and he found himself bumping into someone, shaking his head and being broken out of his trance. "Sorry about that." he said, casting his gaze to the person he collided with.
When he did, his heart almost stopped beating, because he felt such a vile, primal aura that could only be described as supreme power. Something unrivaled by anyone he'd ever met, even Pops and his siblings. The man before him was youthful, and lean. He was slightly taller than Dagda, and his hair was long and brown, but the thing that unnerved Dagda the most were his eyes.
They were a bright, golden color. It was almost like he had a pair of stars on his face, ones that leveled a soul piercing gaze on Dagda. The man smiled, a motion that gave him an even more inhuman appearance despite his relatively plain features. "My apologies. I seem to space out sometimes. I trust you are alright, Dagda?" he asked, and the Grimmsnarl Halfling hesitated. How did this man know his name?
Dagda nodded. "I am, Sir. I take it you're one of Pops' guests?" he asked, and the man tilted his head. This man was a monster, Dagda could tell. If there was a single being on this planet that could unnerve him more than Heinreich, it was this man. He nodded. "Something like that. Regardless, I'm here to meet that little boy, Belphegor. He still doesn't have a suitable family. It's rather odd, since he's the easiest to care for to me." he mused, and Dagda nodded slowly, watching the man simply walk away, Dagda able to almost see a primal power following him.
The duo sat with Dagda's Pokemon outside the Maractus' house, a Pokemon he now knew was a smart, whimsical male Pokemon named Cheech. They chose to relax just until the Rillaboom healed, and then they'd get moving. Dagda wanted to make haste, and he was glad that he could manipulate his hair almost like vines or tentacles, because it'd make getting through Route Six far, far simpler.
He wanted to reach Circhester within a week, preferably less. He was itching to battle the next Gym Leader, and he knew there wasn't much distance between Circhester and Spikemuth. And he was also fully aware that but a single tunnel separated Hammerlocke and Spikemuth's outskirts, so his last three gym battles should happen in quick succession.
Each of the Pokemon had gone their own way, having some desire or another. Gorias and Ozzy headed up to where the mural was, to study the two canine Pokemon further. Otis had dragged Danzig into the town to help Cheech with his stall in the street vendor's area, and Marko had wandered off onto Route Six, doing advanced recon and checking on the random woman who restored Petey from fossils, something Dagda almost forgot about.
This left Bede and Dagda alone, and the Halfling found this rather pleasant. He knew that Mr. Felix had a point. There was stuff that Bede wasn't telling him, and he deigned to find out. "You know, Felix isn't here. You can tell me why you really destroyed the mural." he said, and Bede frowned.
"I already said that I thought there was a collection of Wishing Stars behind the rock. I looked into it with Rose's databases and thought it'd help." he said, and Dagda inhaled. He'd made progress, getting Bede to drop the 'Mr' when addressing the Chairman, but he hadn't gotten much further. "Why did you want to do that for him anyway?" he asked.
Bede averted his gaze, sighing before putting his hands in the pockets of his trench coat, something Dagda assumed was suffocating in the warm evening sun. "Because it was my job. He… he adopted me from an orphanage, and I felt like I owed him. He raised me, essentially, even if I didn't like it." he said, mumbling the last part in hope that Dagda's weird, crescent shaped ears wouldn't hear them. Thought they did.
Dagda didn't want to be coercive, as he'd feel bad abusing his powers to draw information out of someone. However, in this scenario, Bede's hesitation had been an obstacle to him. He'd been trying to figure it out for days. Ever since they started spending time together, he'd been trying to understand more about Rose, and why he felt such evil from the man. No one would know better than Bede, so why was he withholding information?
Dagda lightly grabbed Bede's chin, pulling his face to look into his lavender eye. "I want you to tell me. Please." he said, and Bede felt ever so slightly nervous, a warm tingle running down his spine. It was almost like a form of hypnosis. He felt compelled to tell Dagda anything and everything he wanted to know. He opened his mouth to speak. Before he could get a word out, however, the situation changed drastically.
A small troupe of men exploded from the small cliff to the southwest edge of town, surging Dagda and Bede. Dagda's gaze was broken, and his mind hesitated for a fraction of a second. It was a confused and shocked fraction, because the men weren't using Pokemon. No, for some odd, unknown reason, these five men brandished shining silver swords, all nauseatingly sharp with the intent to slice even the atoms flesh was made from.
In that second, Gorias reappeared, standing front of the men brandishing a behemoth blade of his own. This titanous claymore looked like it was meant to slice an island or small country like it was but a fruit or vegetable. The men hesitated, and Dagda frowned. He rose to his feet, feeling his anger take over as he lost his temper.
His hair began to wrap around his entire body, like a black suit of magickal armor, the hair around his fingers and toes honing itself into claws, a tail with a forked spade at the end coming into existence as a pair of large, black wings formed, his canine teeth curving outward as horns began to sprout from the corners of his hairline. Bede found himself moving backwards. This wasn't Dagda. This was something else. Something far, far worse.
He approached the men, who were hesitant to move in the sight of the Great Black Winged Demon. "Who are you?" he asked, his voice oddly calm despite his anger fueled transformation. Even Gorias was hesitant. He'd seen this before, but never, never so soon. It normally took a very long time for Halflings to achieve this, especially in this capacity. This was a Therian Form, the supreme state of being for Halflings. In Sinnoh, this was known as the 'War Form', something that held little purpose outside of mortal combat.
One of the men snapped, brandishing his blade and charging Dagda. The Demon slapped him with his tail, knocking him to the ground and sending his blade clattering across the street. The people of Stow on Side could see this, but they had a different perspective.
They were smarter than most folk of Galar. They knew that this wasn't a monster attacking innocents. They could see the demon's broad wings spread like a shield wall, protecting a smaller boy behind him. This was the actions of a Guardian Angel, a benevolent figure with a talent for discipline.
"Answer me." he said, the other four men looking to each other, their blades in shaky grips. "Now!" Dagda roared, a pulse of violent energy erupting from his being, the men all brought down to one knee from the sheer pressure. "We… we were sent to kill you." one of the men said, and Dagda looked to him, his lone purple eye narrowing. "By who?"
The men went silent, and Dagda struggled to remain composed. His mind was slipping. This state of being, whatever it was, was stronger than anything he'd ever experienced. While he had recently adopted a more confident and arrogant persona, partially as practice for his next performance in Circhester, this broke all of that.
He felt violent, evil, and overwhelmingly powerful. The amount of pure power he could feel coursing through him was the same as That Man, the golden eyed creature he bumped into. It was terribly consuming, and he struggled to remain in control.
"By our Lord and Savior! He might have been struck down by you heathens, but our great Lord Arceus will return and strike you all down!" the man said, and Dadga narrowed his eye. What was he going on about? Arceus struck down? Lord and Savior? Dagda grew more agitated.
Dagda lifted his right arm, holding out two fingers and inhaling, a ball of black energy forming at his fingertips. "Answer my question." he said, one of the other men throwing his head down, quivering in fear. "Mr. Rose! Chairman Rose sent us to kill you and retrieve his former gym challenger. Please! I have a family, I wouldn't lie for that man!" he said, and Dagda put his arm down, exhaling. He could slowly start to feel himself return to normal.
With his calm taking over, his wings and tail dissipated, the hair about his body like armor retracting as his horns and distended canines retracted like the claws of a cat. He didn't like that, whatever that was. However, it still had a slight hold on him, because when he walked past the Electivire, he hesitated. That evil could still act on it's own, and in this moment, it chose to. "It's time they exit stage left."
He hesitated as he looked to the ground, realizing that he was actually afraid. It had been a while, but he was afraid of his own power, and of his ability to control himself. He felt weak again, he had to take a step back and regain control. He wondered what he should do, and he looked to Bede.
He saw that Bede looked afraid. He hated that look, and he didn't want to see it again. He frowned, casting the boy a deflated gaze. "I'm.. I'm sorry you had to see that." he said, and Bede blinked and shook his head, as if breaking out of a trance. He smiled at Dagda, as if to silently tell him it was okay. Dagda began to feel a little bit better when Gorias called out to him. "Lad, ye might wanna see this." he said.
When Dagda came over, he noticed the men's bodies were nowhere to be seen, and based on the sheer cliff behind them, he didn't have to wonder very long what happened. He looked to what Gorias referred to, being their weaponry, bright, silver broadswords meant for hacking flesh.
However, on the blade in Gorias' hands, Dagda noticed something. Along the blade, close to the hilt, was a marking that he hadn't seen in a very long time. It was a giant golden ring with extensions and gems built into it. It was a symbol of Arceus, the God that those men claimed was deceased. He seemed rather worried at that, but Gorias showed him another blade. "Can ye read this?" he asked, and Dagda looked to the blade.
This one had an odd, ancient looking form of writing on it that was elaborate, and Dagda shook his head, unable to understand this archaic scribe. Gorias sighed. "It says 'All ye faithful shall inherit the Earth, and rule over the heathenous and the half-man scourge'. It's an old Arcean Knight Proverb. Whoever made these weapons might be a bigger deal than we think." he said, and Dagda felt his composure slip.
Not only was he struggling to keep control of himself, causing his friends to fear him, he had some ancient order of religious knights supplying weapons to his enemies. What exactly was going on? He desired answers, and he realized that Circhester would have to wait if his life, or Bede's, was in danger. "It seems that they didn't learn last time." Dagda heard.
He felt a pulse of that same primal energy, turning to see the golden eyed man staring at the weapon, as if he was there the entire time. Gorias seemed to know this man, because he actually dropped to one knee in respect, bowing his head before the man willed him to his feet with a wave and a smile. "I think you should join me to the village. It seems that it's storytime again." he said with an odd smile. Dagda didn't know who this man was, but he knew one thing. He was here to help, so Dagda would listen to him.
"M'Lord, I'm surprised ye came yeself." Gorias said, and the golden eyed man looked to him with a smile. "It seems like it's a good thing. I don't like Arcean Knights. Haven't liked em my whole life." he said, looking to Dagda. "Please, allow us to get going. If we make haste, we'll arrive by nightfall so the kids can explain to you what's happening. I haven't seen them in a while, so I'm looking forward to it." he said, and Dagda nodded. The man looked to Bede, who stood a slight ways away.
The man looked back to Dagda. "Is that one yours? You got good taste." he said, and Dagda blinked. What was with this guy? He seemed incredibly weird, and yet, obscenely powerful. The man shrugged at Dagda's silence. "You can't hide it from me, y'know. I know everything. I know who you are, what you are, and what you've done. My nephew invited me here because he thinks you're cool. I think he's wrong." he said, and Dagda continued to find himself speechless at the man's incessant babbling.
"Do you ever shut up?" Bede asked, and the man looked to him. He smiled, a fond look that Dagda found rather odd. "You remind me of my sister almost. I can see why Dagda likes you." he mused, more to himself. Dagda looked to the man, finding his odd rambling rather annoying. "Who are you?" he asked, and the man glanced to him with those evil looking golden eyes, a smile always on his face.
"You'll find out when we get back to the village. For now, just follow me back to the village. I want to see my family. They don't come home often, so it's been a few decades since I've seen the little rascals."