Scar Lionheart wasn't the most happy person. "We're packing up a village in preparation for a possible war and he wanted to play Hide and Seek?" he asked, and his wife nodded. "He's a cute thing, Scar. Why don't we take him with us?" she asked, and he sighed.
"I can't focus on him. You know how I am with kids. Look at Kenny. You remember how much time I spent with him when he was young." he said, and she sighed. He did have a point. Scar was quite affectionate and one track minded when it came to children. He managed to inherit his father's sense of fatherhood, and thankfully it extended to even orphaned children.
"So when are we leaving?" she asked, assuming she couldn't change his mind. He shrugged. "Everything is on the plane, and Loki and Draug already went home to gather up the maintenance crew. Only thing we need is to find Dexio and get going." he mused, referring to his second mate.
"We're about to leave, y'know. You can't go playing games, especially on a plane. What if you got hurt?" Dexio asked, walking through the village with Belphegor, looking for someone to take the child off his hands. The boy looked up to him with that same lazy smile he always had and shrugged. "I'm tryna have fun, Old Man. I'm still a kid." he said, and Dexio grit his teeth. He didn't like being reminded of the fact that while his body didn't age much, he was still older than Scar by a few years. He exhaled, trying to think straight when they came upon Dagda.
When he did, Belphegor lit up, waving to them with a smile as they approached. "Hey Dagda!" he called, and the Grimmsnarl smiled to him. "I thought I told you to hide." he said, and the boy laughed, finding it funny. "I forgot… there's no plane here." he said, and Dagda chuckled. "I wondered how long it'd take you to figure that out." he mused, more to himself.
He noticed Scar approaching, and he bowed to his sponsor and mentor slightly, receiving a nod in return. He looked to the blond haired male. "It's time to get going. I tried to get Heinreich to leave with us, but he's content with staying here." he said, and Dexio shuddered, rolling his shoulders. "Good. You know I hate those Garchomps." he said, causing Scar to laugh.
He looked to Dagda and Bede, who seemed to be in completely different moods. Dagda must have reached another epiphany, because he was back to his old self, happy and confident, determined to achieve his goals. Bede seemed rather flustered, as if trying to process something.
"What have you been up to? Last I saw, you were wandering around confused about everything we told you." he said, and Dagda nodded. "It was more about the fact that your father and Pops' father are the most evil people I've ever heard stories about." he said, and Scar rolled his eyes. "Funny. Does that mean that you've decided to be a pain in my ass, or an obstacle of some kind?" he asked, and Dagda shook his head.
"Actually, I've decided to stop letting things bother me so much. I met with this guy named Magni, and he explained to me that if I'm going to do the same thing anyway, the details don't really matter." he said, and Scar shook his head. "That fucking hillbilly." he grumbled to himself, nodding.
"That's good to hear. Just know that we're on speed dial incase you need something for a performance. I prefer to be normal and use planes, trains and boats, but I can teleport things across the planet for you if need be. Just not that often." he said, and Dagda nodded his thanks.
"I was actually wondering if you'd do me a favor and take Belphegor with you for a little while. Have Yukio and Tyke fit him for costumes and stuff. I was really inspired by Allister's entrance, so I was thinking about doing something like that." he said, and Scar nodded.
"A speech handcrafted by a child that theatrically introduces you, and you'll be wearing some ridiculous costume?" he mused, and Dagda nodded. "I was thinking about it, and I actually wanted all of the kids fitted in costumes. Bede as well." he said, his friend looking to him, snapped out of whatever daze he was in. "Me?" he asked, and Dagda looked to him with a smile, mischief in his clouded eye.
"I thought about it. I'm going to make my next performance something like Kabu, just less of me being angry and more of me being arrogant. It's going to be quick, dominant, theatric. I have a feeling that the next gym leader isn't going to be a problem. Only one that even gives me the feeling of a challenge is Raihan. It's like I can tell almost." he said, and Scar sighed.
"That's fine, just make sure to give your design choices to Heinreich, since he's staying here. And please, nothing too unusual. Especially for Zara." he said, and Dagda chuckled. "I'll make sure to talk to Heinreich about it." he said, and Scar nodded. He narrowed his eyes, feeling like Dagda was trying to avoid something.
"Why do you need me to take Belphegor for a week or so if Heinreich is making the costumes instead of Yukio?" he asked, and Dagda smiled. "Because Mr. Magni taught me how to… obligate you to help me." he said, and Scar narrowed his eyes, his jaw starting to go slack. His pupils narrowed in thought before he realized what Dagda was talking about.
"You slick son of a fairy." he said, and Dagda laughed at the attempted insult. "I figured that him staying here alone with just Pops, Heinreich and some Pokemon would be awfully boring, so if he goes back to your place with Renji and Zabi, he'll at least be around someone he knows." he said, and Scar shook his head. His mate looked to him, confused. "Exactly what did he do?" he asked, and Belphegor smiled, running over to Dagda and hugging him tightly.
Scar shook his head as he smiled. "Halfling Adoption. You remember how me and you told Khan that we were gonna take care of Kenny? Dagda did that for Belphegor." he said, and his mate began to chuckle. It was rather amusing when you thought about it. "And you're the partner? Halflings don't normally let a single parent adopt." Dexio asked, looking to Bede, who shrugged. "I have no idea what's going on." he said, and Dexio began to laugh.
Scar found a similar amount of amusement in the situation, gesturing for him and Dexio to depart. He looked to Dagda, who picked Belphegor up, finding it rather amusing with how similar they were in size. "I'll give you a while before I leave. Kenny is still wandering around somewhere and it'll give him time to sniff his way home." He said, holding back laughter as he departed.
Bede looked to Dagda, who held Belphegor like a small child, much smaller than he was. Bede couldn't tell exactly how tall Dagda was, perhaps Five foot nine? Ten? Regardless, he knew that Belphegor was at least four and a half feet tall, so it looked a little odd to him, especially with the black pillow in the child's hand.
"Care to explain this all to me? I am human you know. Your… 'Halfling' stuff is lost on me." he said, watching Dagda put Belphegor down. "The blond guy with Scar was human too, just so you know." he said, Belphegor grabbing Dagda's hand and smiling, looking as if he was going to fall asleep right there. "Anyway, I decided that I needed to stick my neck out for him." he said, the child rather quiet and content.
"Do you remember when I told Rose that I'd have Scar take you under his wing, as my fellow challenger, or at least an employee of his?" he asked, and Bede nodded. "Well, I did something similar for Belphie. Despite Galarian law and census saying that he doesn't even exist, by Halfling law, which operates separately at least in Galar, he's our son." he said, and Bede nodded.
It made sense to him. With his ever growing web of connections, and ever increasing strength, no one could truly stop Dagda, and he wasn't the kind of person to abandon an ambition of his. He desired to find out who and what he is, and he did. He desired to find out who and what made Galar the way it is, and he did.
So, if he decided to adopt the child, it was for Belphegor's benefit. Of course, it would be a more brotherly relationship than parental. Regardless of Dagda's instinctual caretaking, something he assumed came from the fairy type part of him. The fluffy haired trainer blinked. Wait a second…
"Our?" he asked, and Dagda nodded. "You were standing right there, and I could tell that you were worried about him as well. I figured you wouldn't mind." he said, and Bede made a flustered face, the type of frown that comes from embarrassment and timidity.
Dagda smiled at his reddened face, looking down to the child he could technically call his son. "Just call us by our names, please. We're a little young for the whole 'dad' stuff." he said, hearing a chuckle.
He turned to see Magni approaching, looking at the trio before sighing. "If I woulda known that you were gonna go and adopt kids I would kept my big ass mouth shut." he said, and Dagda smiled. "I do appreciate it, Mr. Magni." he said, and the draconic Halfling shrugged.
"It's not too uncommon to be honest. My Old Man was twelve when I was born." he said, and Dagda blinked at that. "Halflings can have kids that young?" he asked, and Magni nodded. "He's a demigod. He can do what he wants. Same for us, but we actually want to be teenagers at least." he said, and Dagda tilted his head.
"How many kids do you guys have?" he asked, and Magni hummed. "Well, Me and Sanatika got our son Janemba. My sisters don't have any kids yet, and neither does Scar's other sister, Sarabi. Shere-Khan, Loki and Draug all have mates, but not kids yet." he said, and Dagda tilted his head. "What about Pops?" he asked, and Magni sighed.
"I don't like talkin' bout him. Nappa's been a bit off since his son was born. It's like he's lookin for something or someone. Like a rival or mentor or an arranged marriage. He wants somethin', but you'd have to ask him about it." he said, and Dagda smiled.
"I think I might. Bede, dear, could you take Belphie to Scar? He needs to get fitted for his costume." he said, and Bede grumbled to himself, leading the child off as Dagda spoke to the large, laid back man.
While they walked, Belphegor held Bede's hand, looking up to him. "You good?" he asked, and Bede sighed. "I don't know. Just been through a lot." he said, and the child nodded. "It's cool. I'm just happy Dagda was nice enough to help me out." he said as he gripped his pillow tighter. Bede wasn't truly sure how to feel about this.
On one hand, he was happy. He was happy to see that the child he worried about was set, and that his friend was the one who was willing to help. However, he was a little torn up about being half responsible for this child. It felt right, since he cared about him, but it was a bit odd as well.
"Just relax. You guys aren't gonna magickally buy a house and a dog and start sending me to a human school. It's cool. We're still friends." he said, and the fluffy haired trainer smiled at the child. He wanted to help people, and he sided with Dagda on this whole situation.
Over the past couple of days, he'd met and interacted with a lot of good people who were forced into hiding or unnatural mindsets or lifestyles because of the region's tyranny. He wanted that to stop, because to see that there was a whole slew of children, orphans like he was, being denied acknowledgment or possibly killed simply for being different, was horrible.
Especially because the one responsible was a man he once viewed as a father figure. He thought about the child, and about his safety. He realized that now that he wasn't Rose's chosen one, that he would need to start anew, and he decided to start with his partners.
He stopped the child, reaching into his pocket and pulling out three shrunken down Pokeballs. He inhaled, holding them up to his head and silently praying for the child, and the Pokemon's safety. He placed the three balls on the boy's pillow with a smile.
"These are some of my strongest Pokemon. Since you can talk to Pokemon, I want you to take them with you, and tell them that I said… 'Be friends with him. He's just like me.'." he explained, and Belphegor nodded, a broad smile on his face.
When they reached Scar, he looked to Belphegor, who held his pillow across his arms with the three Pokeballs atop it. He looked to Bede. "So you're leaving Pokemon with him?" he asked, and the fluffy haired trainer nodded. "I figured he'd need someone who could tell him more about me." he said, smiling as he began to feel more relaxed.
Scar shook his head. "Y'know, you might want to be careful getting close to Dagda. Not because he's bad news or anything, but… uh… yeah." he said, pointing behind him.
When Bede turned around, he gasped and took a step back. The man standing in front of him was garbed in elaborate attire, and had a smile across his face, his strong jawline somewhere between handsome and unnatural.
He simply stared at Bede and Belphegor, who passed the pillow and Pokeballs to Scar's female mate, who took them with a smile, his male mate leading him away, the trio about to depart for Wyndon Airport.
"That's why. This guy here is Heinreich, and he's…. well, he's gonna design your costume for whatever Dagda has planned." he said, and the Garchomp Halfling smiled.
"I already have the designs in mind, Scar. I simply came to study." he said, and Bede found himself stuck to the spot. What was this man? He had an aura of primal darkness, as if he was what the universe would become after it's death. The type of creature that makes you pray that there is no afterlife, and that your soul perishes with your body.
"Leave him be, Heinreich. He's not even an adult by human standards yet. Remember what we told you about the younger ones." he said, and the dragon man sighed, shaking his head. "Forgive me. I lose myself in my visions. I will have to make adjustments to the costume since I know your age. Sad, I was hoping that it'd be a bit easier on me." he said, sighing as he walked away with a horrifying, nightmarish goose step, almost like a machine, and not a man.
"What is that guy?" Bede asked, and Scar shook his head. "A pain in the ass. He's very interested in your relationship with Dagda because of the Grimmsnarl magickal procreation, which he's taken to calling 'Gabriel'. Don't ask more about it, just know that sadly, that thing is gonna keep an eye on you." he said, and Bede looked in the direction he went.
"Regardless of Heinreich, just know that you are an ally of Halflings, and as such, have the full endorsement and backing of the Laverre Theatre Company. You are free to either use it to retake the Gym Challenge, or simply take advantage of it as Dagda's partner. Regardless, know that no harm will befall you and those that would wrong you will be put down to the fullest extent of our power. Including Rose."
That last part was what drove it home for the fluffy haired trainer. He had a whole new life, essentially. He had actual friends and allies that could watch his back, and that he could spend time with. Someone to travel with.
More than that, he had someone to protect him. No more would he have to have a restless night in fear of the dark side of Rose. No more would he wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare. He could sleep soundly, and sleep happily. He found it rather ironic, to be honest.
He was raised to believe in a righteous god and his angels, and yet, the one giving him this sense of solace was a Demon. He realized that his view was completely backwards. Instead of the world being protected by white angels from black demons, it was the opposite.
Black Angels shielded the innocent from the white demons that sought oppression, genocide and the victimization of the weak. He understood now why Dagda called himself 'The Dark Messiah'. Because sometimes, that which is truly good in the world, is evil.