The video played over and over again, going black at the same exact point every time. The man watching, the vaunted Chairman of the Pokemon League, was unable to see what transpired. All he had was eyewitness accounts and news reporters.

Everyone claims that Gordie went insane and attacked the opposing trainer, and that his Pokemon fell on him and crushed him in the resulting chaos. It didn't make sense to Rose, and he knew that it wasn't the truth. He felt like there was something missing, and he knew that Gordie was murdered.

He watched it again, seeing that there were Halflings giving a prophetic introduction of a beast, a literal demon in human skin that spoke of Halflings blatantly. He'd dealt with many news outlets, assuring them that it was all part of an act. The challenger was after all sponsored by a Theatre Company. However, there was one major problem.

The people living in Galar that weren't born here. They were foreign invaders in his perfect region, his perfect world. They could give anonymous online statements, telling everyone that there was infact a species of Half Pokemon people all over the world, and that Galar not knowing was weird to them. He couldn't silence everyone, and he hated that.

Thanks to one child's defiance, one child's existence that wasn't snuffed out or suppressed, his grip on the region was slipping. He couldn't stand it, and he'd found that his patience was thinning. He thought to his dark secret, his love of young boys.

He normally would pick one, groom him into a fine young man, and then on his eighteenth birthday, harvest the fruits of his labor, resulting in a euphoric experience followed by an incredibly delicious meal. He'd been doing it ever since he landed in Galar almost two centuries ago. However, his number of victims had recently spiked.

He paused the video, the replay of this battle, on Bede's appearance in the entrance. He was wearing something that was obviously meant to garner attention, his specifically. It was sultry, and barely legal. The way the material, which looked almost flesh like, hugged his slender frame and accented his hourglass figure had Rose balling his fists until his knuckles were as white as the boy's hair.

The other thing that was obviously meant to garner the Chairman's attention was his exposed leg. Rose had made a fatal mistake, finding Bede far too appetizing too early. He'd taken a chunk of flesh, literally, and left his leg disformed and scarred. The costume designer, who must have just as much of an infatuation with young men as he himself, sought to display this for everyone to see.

It was, combined with Bede's impassioned words, meant to call him out, the beautiful young boy blatantly stating that Dagda would strike him down, defeat him and end his life and his work. Rose found this incredibly angering, and it led him to taking four victims in the last two weeks alone.

And with Gordie now dead, Melony had taken control of Circhester, and used her connections to clean up the town. All of his merchandise was gone, and he'd lost contact with all of his men in the city. It was as if she purged him from the city in a show of defiance. He frowned.

And with Leon spending all of his free time trying to reform his brother, Rose had no one to use to defend him. He'd given Piers and Raihan both orders to refuse Dagda's challenge, but Raihan had blatantly told him that he was refusing this order.

He hated the tall young man, who was far more concerned with his social media than with what he was supposed to do. He had blatantly defied him, and Rose hated it when boys wouldn't listen. It drove him wild.

"Sir, I think that there's something you should see." he heard, turning to Oleana as she held out a tablet to him. He frowned, looking from the gloomy faced woman down to the device in her hands, his eyes widening as his jaw went slack.

It was a post on Raihan's social media, and it had garnered an immense amount of attention, far, far more than normal. And this wasn't him playing dress up or a piece from his professional photoshoot. He was simply standing with someone, the Galarian jokingly holding a championship belt as the older man with a full beard and slicked back salt and pepper hair pointed at him.

Rose immediately grabbed the tablet and hurled it at the nearest wall, hearing it shatter as he slammed his fists into his desk and roared at the gall of the young man. The man in the photo was a retired man, a war hero complacent with his relaxed existence as his life pattered away. He was the current Chairman and CEO of Sinnoh's New Jubilife Pro Wrestling, and their former Grand Slam Champion, 'The Rainmaker' Simba Lionheart.

"Get me Leon! I need him to make a statement in my favor immediately! Something must be done about this situation!" he screamed, and Oleana nodded, a worried look on her features as she turned to leave. "Oleana!" he screamed, and she turned back to him, fear evident on her face at his unbridled fury. "Bring me another boy."

Sailing on Otis' back across the icy waters of Route Nine was rather pleasant for Dagda, who sat calmly with Bede essentially on his lap, the two enjoying the bright sunlight. "Fuck you." Otis said, and Dagda looked to the Snorlax's frowning face.

The bear must have not liked Dagda's quizzical look, because he pulled a hand from the water to point at him accusingly. "I got the freezing cold fuckin' water on my fuckin' back makin my ass wet and fuckin' cold and you get to fuckin' mock me by sitting on my fuckin' stomach cuddling with that little fucker Gods fuckin' dammit!" he shouted, and Dagda blinked again. How many obscenities was that in one sentence? He hadn't pegged the Snorlax for one to curse.

"Relax Otis, I'll let you dry off and eat and then you can stay in your Pokeball, alright?" he asked, and the bear grumbled to himself before looking back towards the sky and groaning. Bede glanced up to Dagda, not minding that the Halfling was cradling him in the cold. "What did he say?" he asked, and Dagda looked down to his partner. He smiled, chuckling at Otis' words.

"It's better I don't repeat it. He was pretty obscene cause he's being a big baby about some water." he said, the Snorlax gritting his teeth and glaring at Dagda. He didn't want to hinder his brother in arms' progress, but rolling over and dunking him in the ice cold water seemed like a good idea to the bear right about now.

"What's it like to talk to Pokemon?" Bede asked, deciding that he could spend the time learning more about what it was like to be a Halfling, something he found admittedly interesting with how many he'd met. Dagda hummed, glancing to the early afternoon sun.

"It's just like talking to anyone else, I guess. They might have funny sounding voices or weird speech patterns, but I can talk to them the same as you'd talk to me." he said, and the fluffy haired young man nodded. "Do you know if it's possible for humans to talk to Pokemon?" he asked, and Dagda hummed.

"I could always ask Mr. Scar. His mates are both human and he's been with them for a long time so maybe they can. There must be some way, just something that Galar isn't aware of." he mused, honestly curious himself.

He felt like he could understand his Pokemon before he found out what he was, but he chocked it up to his suppressed DNA, something that made more sense to him honestly. However, he wanted Bede to understand Pokemon, as his partners were all rather amusing people.

His Hatterene, who Bede called Selene, was a boisterous Pokemon that reminded him of some fashion models or something similar. His Golett, Sandalphon, was a quiet one, but when he spoke, it was soft and kind, something that everyone thought was rather pleasant.

His Falinks, Bene Elohim, was much more talkative, the Brass reminding Dagda a lot of Legion, the oversized Falinks that Pops trained. And his Pawniard, the pink one called Szayel, was every bit as eccentric as Petey was, his odd speech something that he thought Bede would get a kick out of.

Otis paid close attention to the conversation, the Snorlax being Dagda's oldest friend, one who was essentially raised along him. He'd known Dagda since he was an infant, and to see the incredible progress he'd made on his journey made him almost swell with pride.

He was weak, frail and hesitant to even speak to people back then. He barely even spoke to his own Mother sometimes, and was prone to mood swings that were filled with paranoia or sadness, something that upset Otis in his days as a young Munchlax.

And to see him grow this much, to learn about his heritage, and to gain the support of legendary figures and foreign powerhouses, even surviving the attack from Atilla in the Wild Area, made him happy. He knew that Dagda was a peaceful young man, it was obvious from how he smiled happily while holding someone he loved, and yet, he was frighteningly overprotective.

Otis remembered the first time he ever saw Dagda's therian form. It was recently, a night when Dagda couldn't sleep well and was training his own body. The wings, the teeth, the claws and tail were all surprising, and most of all was his odd mindset in that form.

To save people, to save Halflings and to live a life where everyone was equal, and only one's own ability was their limitation, Dagda had taken that form to grow stronger, and to crush his enemies. When Gorias had spoken to him and told him about Dagda's resolve to take the lives of those that commit atrocities, he was surprised.

He smiled, looking to the sky and sighing. Dagda was much different, and so was he. He'd finally evolved, and his speed and strength were far beyond what he ever expected. He'd trained and trained for the day when he was needed to save lives, to help Dagda claim the title of Champion.

The Snorlax couldn't wait for the day, because then he could finally relax. He could sit back and eat and be the big fat panda he looked like. He could eat and sleep the day away, and never have to embarrass himself climbing ladders and such like on Route Six ever again.

He looked back to Dagda, who swayed happily with his special friend in his arms. "Hey Dagda." he said, the Grimmsnarl Halfling looking to his ursine friend. "He's lucky he's got someone like you, y'know. Your mom would be thrilled." he said, and Dagda swelled with happiness at the Pokemon's words, far happier than Rose was at this moment.

And then, Dagda tilted his head as he looked to the sun. He knew that his mother would always be happy with whatever he did, but what about Ulquiorra De Danann, The White Demon? He always wanted to meet his Father, the Pokemon that spawned him.

Would his Father approve of the man he'd become? The self proclaimed 'Morningstar', a man called by Heinreich the 'Dark Messiah'? Would the stark white demon approve of Dagda taking lives and challenging the same handcrafted society that ended his life?

He truly wondered, and thought that there must be some way he can speak to his father, who had long since passed on. Some kind of Halfling seance or ritual to summon the spirits of the deceased. He wanted his father's honest opinion of the man he'd become and strove to be, and of the people he'd chose to keep company with.

What would his father think about him finding the estranged Ozzy, who he knew as a Rockruff named Iori? Of taking someone else's Pokemon to save it from abuse, or about saving Bede from Rose? All of these thoughts riddled his mind as they sailed the waves. However, this didn't upset him, because no matter what the white Grimmsnarl thought about Dagda, he couldn't stop walking this path.

And as the sun set on that day, Rose tore apart another child, angered and filled with fear as his grip on the region slowly began to slip, the pain slowly starting to wash away.

And yet, Dagda watched the sun set with a smile on his face, fully aware of a part of that fact. No matter what Rose was doing at this very moment, Dagda knew that he was angry. Dagda had taken Bede from him and smash the glass ceiling on the region. He was simply floating across the waves on the back of a Snorlax with a smile. He thought to a book he read, a tome in Glimwood Village.

It was called 'The Art of War', and it was authored by Thorkrom Crossburner Hitoawa. One of the passages stuck with Dagda, and changed his perspective on how he should view his silent war with rose.

Thorkrom once said 'Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win'.