Dagda sighed as he walked through Stow on Side. This was his third or fourth time through the city, and he hoped that nothing would happen to make him double back to the village again, especially with the condition it was in. The evacuation process was incredibly casual to everyone involved, as if these drastic action to protect people were common to them.
Dagda found this incredibly sad if so, as he didn't think it was right. He had spoken to Nappa, and was told that this wasn't a big deal, just a precaution incase something did become a big deal. He wondered exactly what constituted a 'big deal' to his mentors, but he assumed that he didn't want to know.
Instead, he focused on getting through Route Six and to Hammerlocke. After Hammerlocke, they'd travel through Routes Seven and Eight to Circhester, where Dagda would be able to finally have his next gym battle. He was looking forward to it, if only for the spectacle he planned on putting on.
He looked to Bede, one of the important pieces of his next battle's puzzle, noticing that he seemed to be deep in thought. He realized that this was arguably the first time in a while that they'd been able to simply walk and travel, if not the first time period. He found himself rather relaxed, wondering what was going through his friend's mind.
In a cabin off to the side somewhere, a place no one would notice or search for, Leon sat with Hop, incredibly angered and disappointed. "What the fuck happened?" he asked, and Hop looked to his brother. "Dagda.. he, he cheated! He stole my Pokemon!" he said, and Leon grit his teeth. "That's not what I'm talking about. I don't care about that." he said.
Hop swore he misheard him. Did his brother, his idol, just say that he didn't care about the fact that his Pokemon was stolen? That couldn't be true. "He just got to me… I should have stayed calm." he said, and his brother rose from his seat, inhaling.
The next thing Hop knew, he was on the ground, holding his stinging cheek and looking up at his brother, who seemed rather angry. "Stop dodging my fucking question!" he shouted, tossing Hop's phone onto his chest. "Explain those fucking pictures!" he shouted, and Hop gingerly grabbed the phone and looked at them.
His eyes widened when he looked to them. They were obviously medical photographs, taken and leaked by some staff member of the nearby Pokemon Center. However, they were all of his Rillaboom, and none of them looked good. They showed patchy fur, scars, burns and malnourishment.
"Explain that shit to me Hop. What the fuck happened?" he asked, and Hop looked to his brother. He opened his mouth, trying to find words to defend himself, to explain his actions, but he couldn't. After everything, he couldn't bring himself to defend what he saw.
"There are people questioning me because of this. I have sponsors and everything under the damn sun calling me about this looking for statements. What am I suppose to tell the entire region, Hop? That I'm the older brother of some fucking monster? Who the fuck taught you to treat Pokemon like that?" he asked, and Hop remained silent.
Leon grew angered at his brother's defeated silence, grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him to his feet. "Answer me! My reputation and integrity as a trainer are in question because you're a fucking idiot! What happened to everything I taught you? Huh!? Are you going to blame every last scar, burn and missing hair on Dagda?" he shouted, and Hop couldn't handle it.
He began to break down, tears pouring down his cheeks at his brother's fury. His goal was to live up to his brother's expectations and then defeat him in the Champion Cup. Now, here he was, defeated and broken, and not only did he disappoint his brother, he angered him as well.
Leon released Hop, folding his arms. "Let me see your Pokemon. Now." he said, and Hop nodded, still crying as he released his Pokemon one by one. When he did, Leon noticed the huge, glaring problem.
They were vastly underpowered. A Purrloin, A Corvisquire, A Wooloo, and a freshly caught Snorlax, along with his Cinderace, which looked well trained and well rested. He also noted the fact that the Cinderace was something he gave him.
"What the fuck is this, Hop?" he asked, and the boy looked to his brother, tears staining his cheeks. "You have one healthy, well trained Pokemon. Why is it that the Wooloo you've had for years has yet to evolve? Why hasn't the Purrloin you texted me about a few weeks ago evolved?" he asked, and Hop again remained silent.
Leon shook his head. "I gave you that Scorbunny because I wanted you to be a good trainer, and to give you a hand. But to see that you've treated a second partner I gave you like this, like it's the only Pokemon you have, makes me sick." he said, closing his eyes.
"Where did it go wrong, Hop? Where on your journey did you let darkness into your heart?" he asked, and Hop looked away from his brother and his Pokemon. He felt such sadness at this moment, and he knew that Leon was ashamed of him, much like Dagda said.
He honestly thought on his brother's question. Where did he go wrong? Where was it that he decided to train only one or two Pokemon, and even then, neglect his Rillaboom? Was it when he defeated Allister, or Opal? No, it was earlier. It was the Wild Area, and he was being dominated by a Hattrem, and the fluffy haired trainer using it.
"I… I think it was in the Wild Area, when I lost to the Chairman's trainer." he said, and Leon shook his head. "I'm gonna set you straight if it's the last thing I do. No brother of mine is gonna be some scumbag."
When the duo reached Hammerlocke, the sun was still high enough in the sky for them to continue traveling. Dagda wondered if they should just leave the town and hit Route Seven by sundown. He realized that with the sun's position, it was possible, but was it what he wanted to do?
Dagda thought it'd be rather amusing, at least for him, if he took his time. He knew that Rose couldn't be happy that he was alive and well, and had not only something he wanted, but the knowledge of things he didn't want to be told. He smiled at that thought. He did have a lot of power right now, didn't he? Why rush to prove it?
He looked to his partner, a sly grin across his features. "You want to keep moving, or stay here in Hammerlocke for the day? I'm in no rush." he said, and Bede shrugged, his hands in the pocket of that same old trenchcoat. Dagda hummed, shrugging to himself. "I'm hungry. Let's go."
The duo sat at one of the more popular chain restaurants in Galar, a bar and grill called 'Bob's Your Uncle', a name that Dagda always found rather amusing. "Why do you wear that coat all the time? Aren't you hot?" he asked, and Bede shook his head.
"I get cold easily. The undersuit and coat help keep me warm." he said, and Dagda nodded. It made enough sense. Dagda himself didn't ever really worry, as he had quite a tolerance for the heat and cold, especially now that he could control how much body hair he had and use various techniques to aid himself in the quest to be warm or cool. He found it rather interesting, and he'd have to make a note as they traveled to test out what he could really do.
"You were kind of quiet on the way here. If you have any problems with anything, you can let me know." he said, and Bede looked to Dagda. Was there anything that truly bothered him? Well, he did have a couple of questions, but one of them stuck out to him.
"What was up with you at the Mural? I'd met you a couple of times, and I always knew you were weird, but that was… not what I thought would happen." he said, and Dagda rose a brow. He felt a need to tease his friend, and he folded his arms, leaning back in the booth.
"Did you expect me to show up at all? If you did, I must say that you had a very high opinion of me." he mused, and Bede rolled his eyes. "Very funny. I'm talking about the way you acted. The way you taunted Rose, almost threatened him. What was up with that?" he asked, and Dagda hummed.
"Maybe it's just cause I'm a Halfling with an odd typing, but both the Dark type part of me and the Fairy Type part had the same goal. Stop Rose from hurting you or upsetting you further. It was an instinct." he said. For some reason, the fluffy haired trainer found that rather sensible. He wasn't entirely human, so not everything he did would make sense.
Although, that didn't exactly hit the mark. "I get that, but what about me? The way you… shielded me." he said, and Dagda blinked. That couldn't be the right word, could it? "Can you really call it 'shielding' when I stood behind you holding your waist?" he asked, his friend's face slipping into the high collar of his jacket.
"Regardless, it was the right thing to do. All of the stars aligned for it, if I'm being honest. A chance to be defiant to Rose, a chance to act out a suave, rebellious character that kind of plays into my next gym battle, and of course, the chance to be close to you. I don't lay my hands on just anyone, you know. I'm fickle." he said, and Bede grumbled to himself.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Dagda heard, glancing up and craning his neck slightly to see, off all people, Raihan standing at their table. He was the Hammerlocke Gym Leader, a very tall, dark skinned young man with an incredible social media presence. Dagda shook his head, smiling. "Not at all. We can continue this conversation in private." he said, winking to his friend before looking to the Gym Leader. "What can I do for you, Raihan?" he asked, and the leader laughed. "Have you looked at the news? You seem pretty laid back." he said, and Dagda tilted his head. "What did I miss?" he asked, and the dragon specialist sighed.
"Come with me. I wanted to show you something important anyway." he said, the duo glancing to each other before Dagda nodded, sliding out of the booth and following the gym leader from the restaurant.
"If you haven't seen the news, Rose made a move against you. Apparently, you threatened him and he put out an order, publicly, for the gym leaders to refuse your challenge. He didn't want to disqualify you, but he did try to bribe me and the others to essentially ignore you. I refused of course, I got other motives." he said, and Dagda nodded.
"If he wants to make a move like that, I can respond in kind. Although, I'm surprised. Why accept my challenge? If you don't, it'll be more time for you to have to yourself." he mused, and Raihan shook his head. "Nah, fuck that. Can imagine how many likes I'll get if I take a selfie with you after handing you your gym badge? Especially if you put on some crazy costume like Allister did?" he asked, and Dagda blinked.
If social media attention was enough to convince Raihan to disobey the Chairman and ignore his bribes, Dagda was rather glad that this man was the strongest leader in the region. If it was someone else, he might have had a problem.
He led them to a large vault, guarded by a pair of trainers in the Hammerlocke Gym uniform, watching them step aside for the three trainers. When they entered, Raihan glanced to a trophy case, a small collection of different awards and such he'd won over the years.
"It's right this way." he said, leading them up a flight of stairs and out a door. This led to another small flight of steps and then to a larger door with the Hammerlocke Gym's logo atop it. Raihan pushed the doors open, and Dagda blinked at what he saw inside.
"I brought you here because I wanted to tell you a truth about the region that Rose has helped the royal family hide. You see, the story of 'The Darkest Day', is complete bullshit. Lemme explain." he said, leaning against one of the stone walls.
"The story as it stands is that one day, a huge black and red cloud came over the region, and giant Pokemon started appearing from this cloud, and they razed the land and tore things apart. Of course, the center of the storm was said to be some immensely powerful Pokemon. And that's where the legend stops being any kind of true." he said, scratching his head.
"The legend they tell says that one man, the ancestor of the Galarian royal family, donned a suit of armor and struck down the monster Pokemon and vanquished The Darkest Day, and left the region in the care of his descendants. But, as you can see here, and behind the mural in Stow on Side, that's some bullshit." he said, and Dagda nodded.
He saw two tapestries, elaborate, ancient pieces that had similar, yet different imagery on them. They were men, who wore crowns and had different colored garb, and they were each accompanied by a large canine Pokemon, facing opposite directions to look at something in the center that he assumed was on a third, missing piece of art. He looked to Raihan.
He had to hear more. If even the history of the region was being twisted and warped by Rose and his allies, than Dagda would have yet another reason to strike them down. His thirst for knowledge caused him to inhale, realizing that the Circhester gym leader must be rather afraid of the day he opened the door. "Tell me everything."
