Watcher of Arceus - Path of the Immortal

by The Shadow Master of Weapons

Watchers, the direct descendants of Arceus herself, sets of twins born with her power. Born in pairs, these twins were meant to bridge the gap that had come between humans and pokémon, one a gifted human, born beside a pokémon. Inseparable immortal twins, the godchildren wandered the world. But now, a single pair remains. Full summary inside. Reboot of Watcher of Arceus.

61. 61 : Origins of the Knights of Arceus

Watcher of Arceus

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-X-This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

~xXx~ This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

"Human Speech" 'Character Thought' {Pokémon Speech}

Co-author: Catsithx

The following is a total and complete Reboot of the story "Watcher of Arceus".

~xXx~

Chapter 61 : Origins of the Knights of Arceus

Sarah came rushing up in a panic, and the group already knew why. "You're aura is blind as well as isn't it?" Thomas quickly asked seeing Sarah rush up towards them.

"What? How did?" Sarah asked confused as Morag and Rebecca both gave her a worried look.

'We are all blind right now. Our aura senses have been taken from us right now.' Morag stated, barely heard and Sarah just gave a slow horrified look. She instantly concentrated, and was able to summon an aura sphere as normal, but she looked to Morag and Rebecca, she had to trust them letting her aura sphere dissipate.

"How could anyone do that to aura? I've never heard of a way to do this to aura before." Sarah asked, only for a group of rangers and a few more lucarios to rush up, along with Xent. A large collection of umbrellas were passed out to help with the rain since the group of them couldn't all fit under the awnings around the museum though, the rangers forming small ring around them.

"Let me guess, can't see with aura either." Xent asked as he ran up.

"Xent? When did you get here?" Sarah asked.

"Maybe thirty minutes ago. Any news on Coria?" Xent quickly asked, Sarah too busy to notice Xent's new arm right now. Sarah just shook her head.

'Even your aura is blinded?' Rebecca asked even more worried and Morag moved up to her.

'Then its not just me and the other lucarios who are blinded?' Morag asked, her voice getting little more strained.

"Can Latias and Latios track the knights with the D.M.A. right now?" Thomas quickly asked, before looking over the group of rangers. "Is something else going on as well?"

"They're trying to find a work around. It wasn't meant to just find a person easily. It needs monitored to find them manually, but they might have something they can find though. If the knights know that the lucarios have been blinded right now, then they'll be taking the chance to plan something big. All but seven of them are accounted for though so only a few got out somehow and if they want to stay hidden, they'll need those tiaras of theirs. Latios thinks he can set up a way to track them as soon as one of them are brought here. That will still take a bit though." Xent explained.

"We've been ordered to stay with each of you as long as we can. Until we can find each of the missing knights, then you're all in extreme danger. You're their priority target so we've been ordered to stay at your side since it seems most likely that they will try to come after you all." One of the rangers stated.

'Are you all certain that you can handle this duty right now? I can see most of you are already concerned and a bit unsure of yourselves without aura?' Morag quickly asked the lucarios with them.

'We all hate this, but we can't just abandon our responsibilities so quickly. As Aura Guardians, we must do work even when we are uncomfortable.' One of the other lucarios stated, even with their discomfort but the rangers all nodded.

"We've been been doing this without aura for years now. We'll help however we can, but for now your safety is important. You are their intended target, if we want to find them, we just stick close to you right? Should be a simple concept until we have a means to attempt to track them." The leading ranger spoke up now.

Thomas just grumbled a little bit, not happy with wanting to put others at risk for his personal safety. "No... I can't ask that of you. I'll stay here in the D.M.A. with Rebecca. I can operate it and start running a search of the city. Latias and Latios should be able to find a way to track their tiaras. Please, don't put yourselves at risk for me. Coria has already proven dangerous." Thomas tried to asked, clearly a bit uncomfortable with such a large group trying to protect him and knowing that it was Coria only made it worse. He quickly turned and went to head back into the museum, with the large group following them.

"Morag, if you think you need to help the lucarios here, go back to the Aura Oasis. I'll work with Latias and Latios to figure this out." Thomas added as he moved to rush into the building. Rebecca, Sarah, Xent, and Zai all followed him while the lucarios who wanted to stay as well as the Rangers all moved around the museum to keep guard.

"So. What's the plan? I want a second chance at Coria. This has got to stop." Xent stated as he followed along.

"Are you mad Xent? In your condition? How you can fight with just one a... a-arm... Wait, what?" Sarah asked, shaking her head in confusion as she looked at him. She had tried to reach out and grab his empty sleeve hoping to dissuade him, only the sleeve wasn't empty.

"Careful careful!" He said and quickly moved his arm away. "I'm still not used to this thing and it's grip can snap swords like a toothpick." Xent quickly stated, trying not to snap at Sarah, but still worried about his lack of control over the arm right now.

He raised his new arm to let the sleeve drop and show Sarah his new arm. "Courtesy of Latios and Latias, believe me I'm grateful but I need to be careful with this thing." Xent stated, pulling his sleeve back to once again show off the new arm. "Let's just get inside, I'd rather not go into it out here..." Xent added, knowing that he had probably just shown it to quite a few people.

-x-

An hour of work had passed and Latios was setting up the tiara on a stone post that had risen up out of the floor of the D.M.A. chamber. Thomas quickly raised the control unit up to its highest point in the room before starting up the process again with Rebecca still sitting next to him. A large hologram of the city appeared in front of Latias, Xent, and Sarah before a small ring expanded out from the museum to spread over the city. The ring hit the edges of the city before closing back in, and a number of dots appeared.

Most of them were clustered in the main police precinct in the city where they remained in storage, and then a few more dots appeared. "Really? Nothing?" Sarah asked as Latias zoomed the map in on two spots. Latios quickly counted the dots in the police evidence lockers, while Latias whined a little wondering if something if something was wrong.

'Maybe its still not calibrated right?' Latias stated, only as a second wave began to wash over the city. The same set of dots appeared as before, but this time there were two other sets of dots in motion. One group of three was way out in the water, moving away from the city, while another two dots were outside the police station where all of the knights equipment was stored. Of course, one group stood out heavily, the group of dots above the museum.

"Hey guys... there's only four of those tiaras in this room. That's five dots above the museum right?" Xent asked, and everyone but Thomas who was in the D.M.A. control module rushed around the small map. A few minor adjustments, and the hologram of the museum showed four dots inside the D.M.A. chamber. Two were on stone pedestals and two were setting on a table in the corner, but the fifth dot was outside the museum.

"Ninety-nine percent sure that's Coria." Xent said while leaning in. "At least, that's what my paranoia is telling me. One percent is it being a random knight grunt."

The hologram shifted and went from a very simple view to a far more detailed proper map of the building and surrounding buildings that showed everyone in and around the museum. There was still the large gathering going on in front of the museum, and a fair deal of commotion out there which Radara, Lugia, and a few other people were trying to manage the still angry crowds and keep them from devolving into a riot again.

Far more importantly though were the two signatures on a roof beside the museum; one wearing a tiara and holding the other one hostage. An additional pair of holograms appeared above the map. The rain obscured the view for a moment before it was removed from the holograms showing Coria and Mayor Ashe on the roof of a building right next door.

"I said open it. I've already watching the bars give way for your twice." Coria stated trying to push Mayor Ashe closer to the building, specifically one of the doors to the second floor of the D.M.A. chamber from the outside balcony.

"I told you, I can't. Only the legendary pokemon and their brother and sisters can do that! Every time I need in, they already know I'm coming and have someone waiting for me to let me in." Ashe tried to argue, struggling to try and push Coria's hand that was holding the sword away, but couldn't.

"I can't save you if you won't help me. That thing is evil. It has polluted your mind, it needs to be stopped before it steals the power of Arceus." Coria tried to state, forcibly moving Ashe along.

"What kind of delusional world do you live in?" Ashe tried to speak, before being forcibly jerked forward again.

"Where's roof access? We need to save her." Xent quickly stated.

'Me and Lati-' Latias started only for a few flashing lights to go off in the chamber. 'What's going on!?'

Another map quickly showed the entire island and on the far end of the island was a large manufacturing plant. "What's that place?" Sarah quickly asked.

'Its a large chemical facility. They refine pokemon extracts into various things. It was built on the other end of the island because the place has a severe odor dealing with gloom and vileplume extracts.' Latios quickly explained, only to see that a large chunk of the place was on fire.

"Oh come on!" Xent snarled as Thomas quickly brought the control module down.

"Wait, I thought Suicune, Articuno, Dahlia, a few rangers, and some lucarios out there right now? How did it get worse?" Thomas asked, before Xent snarled.

"HEY! That question is forbidden! We do not even taunt that question?! Do you have any idea how fast things spiral out of control?" Xent snapped, holding his head in organic hand while grumbling.

"Wasn't the rain supposed to stop the fires on that side of the island? Before they got to the that place?" Sarah asked.

"If it's a chemical fire, rain might not do anything to it. There's a reason why there's different types of fire extinguishers. If it is chemical, you'd need to do one of two things: You need to call up one of the more equipped fire departments from the mainland and get them here fast, or B, momentarily remove all the oxygen around the fire, depriving it of it's fuel and snuffing it out... Well there is an option C, tsunami the plant to make sure all of the chemicals are deprived of oxygen, but you'll get pollution with that, and there's no guarantee that you won't get water on fire." Xent started.

"The fires started in the forest near the plant, not in it. There's still a chance that it hasn't breached anything major yet, but how did it worse? I thought it was under control? Did we miss an alert or something?" Thomas quickly explained while a very worried Latias and Latios looked over the place.

'We have to go help them, before that place gets any worse! Its never been a problem before, it was just built out there because of the odor! But who knows what all could happen if that place gets damaged too much!' Latias gasped out, before taking off and quickly.

'I'll help them out there with Latias. If that place suffers any explosive damages because of the fire, it could impact the city and the waters around the island! You save Mayor Ashe and deal with the rest of the knights, we can't ignore this though.' Latios stated, before rushing off after Latias.

Xent sighed and shook his head, thinking harder on it. "Coria is out and there is a fire raging... these two things happening at the same time is not a coincidence... That entity that escaped the prison is behind this. The fire, the rain, and the knights. It's all a distraction... Ok, the aura jamming started sometime this evening right? Can you use this system to find if there was a sudden drain on the power grid, or finding a power source inside the city that isn't usually there?" Xent asked looking to Thomas.

"I wouldn't even begin to know how to try searching for something like that, much less even know what we could be looking for. We'll worry about that later, but for now we need to help Mayor Ashe." Thomas stated, still looking over the incident outside. "I'll stay in here and do what I can, Radara thinks that she can teleport the mayor away if she can get close, but she'll need a moment to do it safely. Coria can still hurt Mayor Ashe in the second it takes to teleport her to safety."

"Where's the way to the roof? Coming at her from above is our only option. Once Ashe is away safely, I'll rush her. That should give you time to cage us both right?" Xent stated, quickly rushing for the stairs up to the second floor of the D.M.A. chamber and knowing that there was supposed to be roof access in the chamber as well.

-x-

Xent rushed along the roof of the museum before coming to slow crawl near the edge of the roof. Looking down, Coria was there on the roof of the building up against the museum that had relatively easy access to the balconies around the museum, including two of the doors on the upper floor in the D.M.A. chamber. Still unable to open them herself, it was clear that she was trying to get Ashe to open them for her by dragging her closer and even trying to force her into the bars. Xent just got into position, before nodding that he was ready.

A small screen appeared behind Coria and Ashe, and Coria quickly turned around. Dragging Ashe around with her to face Thomas's voice, Coria just glared at the hologram. Xent adjusted the stolen tiara he had to keep himself hidden while Thomas was talking with Coria through a hologram. Radara was on a roof nearby hiding herself as well and getting ready to teleport Ashe away. They didn't want to risk being too recklessly though already knowing that Coria had something wrapped around her neck, and a knife ready to jab into her back.

Xent couldn't hear the conversation at all, not that he needed to. All he had to do was just wait for a moment before Mayor Ashe was teleported away, and then he would be a distraction. Another two hologram screens appeared, showing what was going on, of how Coria was being recorded right now. It clear that Thomas had her full attention right now trying to get her to ease up on Ashe. It took a few minutes of talking before at last before Radara had her chance and Ashe was teleported away.

Coria had tried to react in time, but failed. She thrust her knife forward into nothingness now before it was ripped from her hands and Xent made his move. A giant hologram box appeared over Coria to obstruct her sight, but when she went to hit the walls, they were fake and Coria instantly went on alert for illusions. It was too late though as Xent was already on her.

Xent dashed forward and tackled Coria from behind, throwing both of them off of the roof and into the alleyway where some of the crystalline barricades were still in place. Coria had managed to throw Xent off before they landed, Coria rolling and landing hard into a set of trash cans while Xent came to a skidded halt on his side. Coria instantly grabbed the blade that she had been preparing and bolted back up going in for a killing blow only for an arm to block the attack.

The clang of metal on metal surprised Coria as her blade bounced off the quick block as Xent recovered, ready this time. "Would you shut up and listen!" Xent snapped shocking Coria a bit as his fingers reached backwards and snapped close on the blade, refusing to release it. Even as she tried to force it free from Xent's hand, it just pulled hard on his arm pulling him up to his feet. With Ashe in safety, Radara instantly went on the defensive above Xent, trying to restrict Coria's psychic powers now and hopefully slow her down to let Xent try and reason with Coria.

This didn't help too much though as Xent stumbled a little from being jerked up as Coria tried to force the blade out of Xent's grasp but he didn't let go of the blade. Once more just snapping the sword as he refused to let up and wanted to disarm her, Coria didn't know what to think. She knew very well that she had been responsible for Xent losing his left arm, but somehow he had just blocked with his left arm and was now swinging at her with his right.

"That thing is Evil incarnate! It's going to des-" Coria tried to called out, letting go of the broken sword and going to grapple Xent, before something else acted first. Coria was throw back hard against the crystalline barricade, dragged against her will entirely with a glow across her entire body.

"HEY! Hey, this is between us!" Xent yelled out rushing up as Coria was released. Coria was a bit disoriented from being dragged up against the wall and hitting the barricade a bit hard, only to see Xent rushing her and she just reacted.

"Wh-" She started to called out, instinctively going to defend herself. She ducked under Xent's first swing of his right fist with ease, and nailed him with a heavy blow to the left side of his hips, instantly going in for another blow while trying to figure out what had restrained her.

It was Xent's turn to act on instinct now though, right as Coria was forced back into the barricade again, and his shiny new hand caught Coria right in the jaw instantly knocking her out. "What... Come on! This was my fight! We have a plan here! Who did that?" Xent shouted out, finally looking up and seeing Mewtwo just hovering over them.

'You are not skilled enough to take her in combat.' Mewtwo merely stated, continuing to hold Coria still even though she had been knocked out.

-x-

Coria awoke with a start, only to find she was in a large cell. Large stone walls, a tile floor, a cot, and crystalline bars running over the windows and splitting the room in half. She quickly realized that it wasn't a cell, but was some other room, and then quickly noticed Xent sitting in a chair on the other side of the bars.

"Six cameras, CCTV system, microphones, and four guards in the next room, plus another three in the security room always on duty watching over you and the other higher ups. And that's just the backup system. That same system that runs the holograms used in the Tour de Alto Mare has an entire file dedicated just to watching you at the moment." Xent stated, before leaning forward and just rolling a tiara into her impromptu cell.

As the tiara rolled and stopped at the foot of the cot, Xent leaned forward some, his face showing a soft frown that matched his eyes. At the same time, he made sure to bring his hand up to his head, showing off the knights tiara that he was wearing himself. "Between brother and sister... can we talk? Please?" He asked making it a point to use the tiaras as a sign to try and show that supposedly both of them would be talking entirely on their own, without being controlled or hypnotized.

~xXx~

Xent grumbled loudly again as he walked into the garden with Zai at his side. It had been a very long night for him and Coria had proved far less then helpful or willing to talk no matter much Xent tried. Even Zai was irritated as she walked into the garden with him, eager to get some sleep after staying up all night with Xent. As soon as they were through the illusionary wall though, a very strange sight was there to greet them.

A large chunk of the garden had been reorganized dramatically. Giant stone tables, two large stone mills, a few large stone ovens, and more, it was almost like a massive stone age bakery had been installed in the gardens. And manning it were over a dozen of the legendary pokemon.

It started with a giant pile of rice on one end, Palkia opening a portal and tossing several large sacks of rice on top of it, where Darkrai and Mew were opening the bags and moving the rice to the large stone mills. Lugia, a few of the Regigolems, and Zapdos were on the mills. Lugia was turning massive stone wheels on top of them while the regigolems were carrying the bases around and lifting them up while Zapdos was helping collect the freshly ground rice into large trays to the sides.

Sarah was mixing up several bowls of water and powder on the side, watching several clocks and then pouring the large bowls of water into various batches of the the ground up rice flour, and Latias added bowls of other ingredients to the different mixes and Articuno, Riako, and Suicune appeared to be mixing them together with their talons and paws, kneading the mixes together.

Xent couldn't see the other side of the large mills, but knew that there were plenty of other pokemon at work. Heatran, Moltres, and Entei were all tending the large stone ovens, while Thomas, Juno, and Dahlia were all manning much smaller stone fire places making something else, occasionally rushing over and pouring whatever they were making into something, before rushing to put them into the much larger stone ovens.

Xent just shook his head some before walking farther into the gardens. "Clearly I missed something. Wonderboy! What's happening here?" Xent called out more then loud enough for Thomas, and almost all of the other legendary pokemon to hear.

Thomas about froze up though, but wasn't the one to answer. Instead, Arceus's head peeked up over the stone ovens. "Xent. Why do you still insist on calling my son Wonderboy?" Arceus asked, a little confused and perhaps a little disappointed.

"Because if I don't, it'll be out of character. Besides, everyone needs a nickname." Xent replied honestly with a shrug. Verna who had been helping them out about had her jaw hit the floor, before suddenly reaching out and just grabbing Dahlia.

"Verna, let me go. If he's going to act like family, I'm going to start treating him like family." Dahlia stated as Xent walked up closer to the impromptu bakery.

'You're going to assault him!' Verna tried to call out, still holding onto Dahlia.

"I'll hold back enough to not hurt him while he's still recovering." Dahlia stated, gently trying to pull Verna off. Zai meanwhile who had just been walking with Xent and not really saying much just grabbed Xent's arm and pulled him along, stuffing a very large mago berry into his mouth to shut him up.

-x-

A few hours later, the first batch of the treat were coming out of the ovens. The smell was all over the garden and almost all of the legendary pokemon were crowded around the ovens as Thomas, Dahlia, and Radara carefully extracted three large trays from the oven. Large fresh buns were pulled from the oven on two of the trays, and a number of much larger loaves were on the third tray.

While all of the legendary pokemon were there up close, even their presence didn't deter almost every pokemon in the garden from trying to get closer and closer. The tantalizing smell of fresh bread, berries and honey, with a slight hint of some kind of meat. A quick check on the first batch and the other ovens were all quickly getting opened up as dozens of trays were now getting pulled out and spread out over various tables to be checked as well.

The smell was even enough to wake up Xent and Zai. Getting up and walking into the garden, well over half the legendary pokemon were gardens with dozens of large trays around them. The smell was only getting stronger as Verna walked up to them with a small plate. 'Morning.' Verna smiled, holding the plate up with a smile.

"So... what is this exactly?" Xent asked, taking one of the buns, and what looked like a topless filled muffin. He could make out the jam in the muffin like pastry, but not much else as Verna passed the plate to Zai now.

"Its a few versions of Zansuu." Thomas stated as he walked up with a few cups of milk for them. "Now please... stop calling me wonderboy." He added grumbling a bit. Xent went to go say something, but Verna just slapped the bun he had picked up into his mouth to keep him saying it again.

'I'll work on teaching my father some better manners.' Verna smiled, giving a small laugh, Zai just shaking her head. 'Come join us... as long as you behave. I... don't know if I can keep Dahlia from assaulting you if you keep trying to call Thomas names.'

Zai didn't care much though, instead trying to the zansuu and instantly her eyes lit up, almost scarfing the first one down. While the paradise buns from Halmin Island had been nice, these were a clear step up from those and Zai eagerly finished the first before reaching for another. With one already in his mouth as well, Xent reached up and held it to bite it in. The rice dough really brought the flavors of the honey ham and berries to create a lovely harmony of blended flavors.

"Oh hey! This is good, like really good." Xent stated, eager to have some more. While he debated calling out Thomas and mentioning that he would never stop calling Thomas Wonderboy at this point, he also didn't want to risk having the zansuu taken away from him.

~xXx~

Even with just a meager day and a half of notice after the Knights had been "rescued" from the ship and even tried a second last ditch attack, the square in front of the museum was packed with news crews for Dahlia's important announcement. Dahlia had dozens of potential emergency plans in place, but had refrained from using them over the past two years since her escape because she was worried that it might convince the knights to take their private war public. After the Knights of Arceus had proven that they were ready and willing to move an entire platoon of trained knights with weapons to try and possibly purge Alto Mare however, that was no longer a concern since it proved that they were already prepared to do such on their own.

Although the zansuu and the sudden family bonding exercise that went with it had helped Dahlia calm herself considerably, she was still on edge. Verna gave Dahlia another hug, and slow kiss from behind the stage, before leaving Dahlia's side to go and take a seat near the front of the stage and watch. Arceus knelled down and gave Dahlia a few nuzzles herself to help.

"It is time my child. I know this is hard, but you have strength. You are perhaps my strongest child with all you have endured, and I know that you can find the strength to do this now. Please, do not consider yourself too broken to do this, I know that you are still you deep down." Arceus smiled, gently wrapping her front legs around Dahlia to hold her close for a moment.

"They are waiting for you. Go, tell them what you need to. I trust that you know what you're doing here." Arceus smiled, leaning down to rub her cheek to Dahlia's for a moment and then standing up letting her go. Dahlia nodded, wiping herself off one last time as she looked over her current out, a full business suit, something she had not worn since her time as a captive, but right now it would help send the message she needed to speak the most.

"Everyone, please sit down if you are able, this announcement will take a while. Again, we apologize for the minor delays but preparations had to be made. I will not be taking questions at this time, nor will Dahlia. I know that this may not be the answers some of you are looking for, but this is something that cannot be delayed further. I will be holding a separate conference and will be taking questions then concerning the immediate safety of Alto Mare specifically, after additional aid has arrived." Mayor Ashe called out as the news conference began.

Dahlia quickly moved up to the side of the stage now, and with a small wave of her hands in front of herself, a hologram image of herself appeared and let her take one last look at herself for the moment, quickly fixing a few stray strands of hair, and then looking to the stage. "Please, be generous and give Dahlia your attention, and let her speak freely until she is done. The announcement that she has to make goes well beyond our simple city of Alto Mare, and will effect most of Japan, including Alto Mare, as well as the Orange Islands, and possibly every nation even beyond our borders. Please, be kind with Dahlia. What is about to talk about is very hard on her, but needs to be said. Dahlia, when you're ready." Mayor Ashe announced, stepping to the side and turning towards the side of the stage where Dahlia was walking up now.

Dahlia moved up to the stand, taking a few more deep breathes. While Verna was at the the side of the stage, she couldn't help but still feel worried about this given how Dahlia was still a bit concerned and angry. Finally up the stand in front of everyone, including a few dozen cameras, Dahlia looked over the crowd. Two large holograms of the the stand with her ready to make her speech appeared on either side of the stage as well and Dahlia bit her lip a little before finally speaking.

"Hello. My name, my proper name that my mother had given to me, is Dahlia. As many of you present here may know, I am a direct descendant of The World Mother Arceus herself. What you may not know is that I am one of the two hundred and forty children that my mother had given birth to, sets of twins born over four thousand years ago. Through rebirth and reincarnation, me and my siblings had been given the task of helping to spread the words of The World Mother, and the legendary pokemon throughout the world, to help maintain a natural order no matter the era. Now though, there are only three of us left, having been forced into hiding, but we can hide no longer." Dahlia started, if a little slowly.

"Throughout our vast lifetimes, we had helped ensure a lasting natural peace over the land, a peace which has only been brought to ruin once by an outside force we still do not fully understand. This peace, this natural order, this lack of war however is unfortunately being threatened once again. And in order to help this world, I have a message that needs to be shared. There are truths that must be told, and groups who would refuse to hear them. I must share this truth with the world, and the Knights of Arceus themselves of how their order was started." Dahlia once again took a few more deep breathes, still trying to prepare herself for this. Trying to control herself for this was difficult, but she looked over the news crews again and steadied herself.

"Six hundred and fifty seven years ago, there was an... incident among our kind that would change the world. But it all started with a woman, and the man who demanded her attention. I knew this woman well during my lifetime back them. Her name was Yolanda, and she along with her mother were servants of the Emperor at the time. They were seamstresses, tailors in their day, and very good at what they did, their family having served nobles and royals for six generations. Adored by many, she lived a comfortable live, but not without problems because she feared this man that she would sometimes refer to as a monster." Dahlia's grip on the lectern serving as a microphone stand on short notice was tightening. She didn't even notice right away that the wood was starting to strain under her grip.

"His name, that I shall only speak once was Gorion and his definition of a wife was to carry his dozen children, to serve him and him alone, to never turn down his advances, and to be happy with anything he gave her. Although he never laid a hand on her without her permission only because she had not yet been married to him, if another man would so much as looked at her, then he would eventually talk with or even assault them when an opportunity presented itself." Dahlia almost snapped name out, trying not to snarl and growl even as he explained what kind of man Gorion was.

"He was born of noble lineage, a union of an arranged marriage between tribal leaders of the Orange Islands and a Johto noble born family. He grew up on the Orange Islands as a boy, until a disease over took the island, and another tribe had claimed the island, with the only mercy being sending him back to family on the Japanese main land. Although not as powerful a family as he had on the Orange Islands, he would forever dream of improving himself and maybe eventually reclaiming the island that he been born on. And it was during this time that he would meet Yolanda, and become obsessed with her." Although Dahlia hated speaking about the man, she knew that people needed to hear about him, and would need to provide facts about the time in order to have any kind of chance of her intended audience of taking her seriously.

"He would work tirelessly to improve himself and his situation. He would serve the emperor dutifully through hard work with intent to be allowed to take Yolanda as his own and always tried to be better, with one exception. As far as he was concerned, Yolanda was already his and no one would take her from him. And with his growing obsession, Yolanda would slowly come to fear him." Again Dahlia had to take a few breaths as she spoke about this. She took a second to look down, seeing her sigil, and nodded again.

"Not long after he had met Yolanda however and already considered Yolanda his own, my brother would arrive in Johto to help spread and teach the word of The World Mother to the temples. Yolanda would quickly fall in love the kind and gentle nature of my brother, and my brother in turn would fall in love with her. As my brother desired to court Yolanda, seeking marriage and a life with her, this began to set off a rage in the man who obsessed over her, starting to make him violent. Yolanda would eventually even come to witness this man kill another a year later, with a smile on his face, all because another man was out shopping with Yolanda." As Dahlia continued to speak, she was glad that Thomas was hiding away in the gardens with Rebecca right now. Knowing that he was away from this conversation, Dahlia let the words just come to her right now and could keep doing it without worrying about Thomas, and bringing up some of his worst memories.

"This man was just a steward of one of the noble lords and had specifically asked Yolanda's mother to join him in the market to purchase cloth, but her mother was busy. With both Yolanda and her mother being seamstresses however, Yolanda knew everything she needed to know to help this man find enough of the right kind of cloth to make a collection of ceremonial dresses for the daughters of his noble employer who would be attending a peace treaty between two almost warring noble families. Weeks later, this man would be found dead. Yolanda had witnessed it and confided in my brother." Once more Dahlia's grip on the lectern tightened and starting to splinter. She just barely looked down to see cracks in the wood, and again tried to ease up her grip.

"Although comforted by my brother, the fear that she had of this man would haunt her and she would never find the courage to call him out for murder. While an investigation had been called, the courts of that day did not conclude it to be murder, but self defense. Several years after the incident, the full truth would be brought to our attention in detail, but by then it was far too late." Dahlia had to try and keep herself calm, being sorely tempted to curse Gorion's name again even as she continued to speak.

"This abuser who demanded Yolanda's attention and love of course despised my brother when he began to court Yolanda, and Yolanda was over joyed to be what my brother desired. She would fall deeper in love with my brother, and my brother treated her kindly, our family welcoming her with open arms and she found safety among us. Unable to risk attacking my brother without reason and knowing that he could never defeat my brother on his own, this man could do nothing to stop what was happening, at least at first. Even when Yolanda and my brother were married, he was forced to merely stand there and watch." While the memory of Thomas's marriage to Yolanda brought Dahlia some joy, knowing how it ended easily boiled her rage.

"A month later, a tragedy would befall us that would change the course of history and how we all interacted with the world. Our mother was attacked that awful night and things changed for the worse. A few us had been killed in the fighting, and we were all shocked by what happened, left confused, tired and weakened. We were in pain from a mental bond that we all shared, and the whole ordeal had taken a great toll on all of us. This proved however that we could die and to that man, that was enough. Under the pretense of protection of the gods, this man gathered those loyal to him, crafted careful elaborate lies to gather the support of those above him, and bribed powerful merchants into aiding his cause with weapons, armor, and ships. He founded an order under these lies and called this group under his command The Knights of Arceus." Even as the physical and mental pain of that night was renewed in Dahlia, it still paled in comparison to the night that the Knights had taken Argyle from her. She quickly grabbed her sigil, holding it as she tried to keep her voice steady.

"While the group gathered under this man had the goal of protecting the legendary pokemon from the falsely named demons, it was only because they believed the lies that their leader had told them. The problem was that the only goal that their leader had when founding the Knights was to reclaim the woman that he desired, by force if needed to save her from preconceived notions of brainwashing that she would want to marry anyone else." Dahlia eagerly wanted to take a small break now, but knew she couldn't. The memories surrounding this were strong in her head. Keeping her anger contained and hatred out of her voice was proving difficult. Still, she had to continue and forced herself to do so, not realizing how hard she was gripping the lectern which gave a small cracking sound under her fingers.

"Their founding father used the incident where our mother, The World Mother Arceus was attacked, to begin publicly hunting down and murdering my brothers and sisters. They did not care to learn what happened, they did not care about learning any truth about the attack, they did not care about anything other then what their leader had talked about. They only cared about rising up against others who might defy their so called holy intentions and using violence to offer that false sense of protection." Dahlia stated, having to bite her lip a little bit as she continued, squeezing the lectern that she had been standing behind harder and harder, only coming back to her senses when the wood caved a little under her grip. She had unknowingly broke a small piece of the lectern right off, and just tried to gently set down the piece of wood. Even though she had worked so hard to keep her voice under control, controlling her muscles to keep from breaking things was harder as she was just now realizing.

"The Knights were slow to gain ground among the common people, but it was clear that the dominant powers in the region did not appreciate us. They had been swayed by the lies and some thoughts of power, and we could offer no answers as to why the attack against our mother had happened because we had none ourselves. My brothers and sisters agreed to step back from the region. We would allow our elder siblings, the legendary pokemon and Arceus to try and resolve things for us, but it was not so easy. We knew the value of time, of how stepping back could help us like it had in the past, but we were mistaken. As my brother prepared to leave the region, Yolanda stayed with him as his wife, and they settled for a time near by. Close enough to stay in contact with family that Yolanda had, but far enough away that it should have protected them. My brother did this to give Yolanda time to write up her good byes to her family and give them a chance to see her if they wanted before he would leave with her." Dahlia almost bit her lip again, but remembering that Thomas wasn't there, that he wasn't listening to this helped her go on.

"My brother was away from the cabin making arrangements for a ship to take them and some of Yolanda's prized possessions from her family with them since they would likely not see each other for many years. His personal sister stayed behind with Yolanda to help protect her while he made arrangements for the ship. While my brother was gone, men loyal to the false cause of the Knights of Arceus found their cabin and attacked. Weakened and not yet fully recovered from the attack against our mother, my sister was unable to fend off the attack on her own. Instead of saving Yolanda from my brother however, the very order this man started took his words to heart. They believed his ideas of brainwashing, of mind control and dominance." Although Dahlia hadn't been there personally, she knew this part well, remembering how broken it had left Thomas in his past life. Even worse, she knew that it began to long decline in who he was, eventually even casting off his proper name of Soular because of it.

"These false knights, in all their so called honor and glory, overwhelmed my sister, Yolanda, and the pokemon that they cared for by numbers and brute force. Half a dozen men, and almost two dozen well trained pokemon descended upon them. With both their pride and bodies injured in the defense that my sister led against their attack, they beat my sister mostly to death and decided that since Yolanda had gone to such great trouble to avoid being "saved" by their generous offers of help, they abused her as well. My brother came home to find his wife defiled and dead, and his twin sister on the brink of death. He has still not recovered from this memory that haunts him to this day." Dahlia stated slowly, before biting her lip again.

Unable to continue freely, Dahlia finally had to a second to catch her breath, closing her eyes and trying to calm herself. She could feel Verna reaching out, and even felt the gentle push from Arceus reaching out a little. Opening her eyes again, she continued.

"The worst was yet to come however. When news that Yolanda was not saved by the order that this monster had tried to use to "save" her, he was furious. Rather then punish the men who choose to kill the woman he fancied, he could only blame my kind, what he demanded to be renamed as demons, the false children of Arceus. Without the woman he demanded servitude from, he turned to the order he had created. All members of the Knights of Arceus would now be fully indoctrinated to the very teachings he had created as cover to try and vilify my brothers and sisters. Any who joined and did not show full commitment to the teachings he decided would be re-educated or burned at the stake for betrayal. And his anger and violence did not stop there. When the people tried to defy him, they would suffer the same fate, to bend knee or die trying to hide the demons." Dahlia had to work harder to restrain her voice, to keep from showing her aggressive hatred for the knights and most of all Gorion.

"Prior to these events, the legendary pokemon had been a very active part of the world, of various human cultures, and interacted with them on a daily basis. When the Knights began their first attempts at a purge, the legendary pokemon had tried to talk them down, but they would not listen because it was never about the protection of the legendary pokemon. Blindly following their leader, they would not be reasoned with. They forced my brothers and sisters into hiding, to remove themselves from their role as speakers of the words of The World Mother and Legendary pokemon, in order to save the lives of those that they might interact with." As much as Dahlia hated what she was talking about though, she never faulted her elder brothers and sisters. The legendary pokemon eagerly tried to do their part after all, and it wasn't their fault the Gorion's twisted holy crusade would not listen to them.

"Any place that had one of my brothers and sisters for a visit became a target to try and track us down. These false knights would also linger near any place that the legendary pokemon would visit trying to declare they were protecting them. In response to their growing attacks, the legendary pokemon decided to step back and remove themselves from acting besides humans to try and save lives themselves. Rather than risk bringing more trouble to those not involved with the fighting, the legendary pokemon choose to avoid the region. They would commune to those in our temples still using crystals like those found here in Alto Mare, but if the Knights of Arceus refused to listen to their words, then they would not receive them." Dahlia spared a glance around the square, towards the various statues of the legendary pokemon and remembering how they tried to help.

"After millennia of doing all we could to prevent war having been caught in one before, we would not be responsible for starting one. The very notion went against our ways, our teachings, and as the beings who help hold this world together since its creation, we had to attempt to be the better example. As the legendary pokemon stepped back from interacting with humans though, blame slowly shifted to the knights who could not provide proof that they were hunting demons and failed to prove that they had the blessings of Arceus to help them. Finally, the general population had had enough. They would not bow to the knights. They would not honor them, they would not obey them, they would not stay calm around them. They even began to threaten to burn their own crops rather then allow the knights to take them to feed their supposedly growing numbers. Rather then face a major uprising against them, they chose to follow our example and fade into obscurity, but they did not abandon their hunts." As much as Dahlia wanted to smile for the people and she knew why they took so long to rise up, she couldn't. Still, she never blamed the people and her hatred was rightly directed at the knights themselves the whole time.

"Even as we tried to keep to ourselves for a while, the knights were always searching, trying to find us, and innocent lives always paid the price. We could not in good faith return to the public eye as long as lives were always at risk, and we had hoped that time would heal these wounds. For the safety of the people, and to continue to prevent a war, my brothers and sisters continued to merely hide from public view, and to do our part in secret in order to save lives. We have never helped maintain the order of this world for praise or tribute and so as long the world was at peace, this was an acceptable compromise." Taking a few more deep breathes again, Dahlia just looked over the crowd a little bit trying to find her focus again.

"The Knights never stopped hunting us however and now, only three of us remain. As they have hunted and murdered us one by one however, their ambitions have grown and we can no longer allow this. With the attack in Cameron Castle almost two years ago and the recent attempt to invade Alto Mare with a large armed force, it has become clear that the group calling themselves The Knights of Arceus truly do desire a war." Dahlia couldn't stop herself from nearly spitting the last part out with rage now.

"My name is Dahlia, and I am a direct descendant of the World Mother Arceus. But most of the world today knows me by another name. Fifty six years ago, my twin brother was killed by these so called Knights, and I was taken prisoner by their order. Held captive against my will, they tried to force me to give up the life of my last brother and sister, but I refused. When torture did not work, they turned to bribery, and when that did not work, they turned to other measures. They allowed me a position of employment in their order to try and gain my trust, and would eventually give me a new name." Dahlia stated, standing up fully now, making sure that she was well seen in her business suit, one that she picked very intentionally.

"That name was Juliana Trinity, former CEO of Trinity Shipping. The reason why so few had me in person was because the Knights of Arceus had personally hand picked who I was allowed to see in person and share this information with, but the fact remains that I was now in charge of their business operations. In an unusual position of power, I attempted to re-educate the Knights from within, and would attempt to see them pay for the worst of the deeds that they had caused. As CEO of Trinity Shipping, I found ways to enforce my own policies within the company, and tried to restrain their most dramatic and aggressive behavior." Although still angry, Dahlia still took some pride in her time as Juliana. Although her time in charge of Trinity Shipping was not as helpful as she had hoped, right now it still gave her plenty of options.

"I had thought in my position, I had restrained them, while doing what I could from the gilded cage that was the my office. I had thought that I was protecting the legendary pokemon from them as much as I would protect them from groups like Team Galactic, or Teams Magma and Aqua. If not for a sickness over taking me and my mind, I would not have made my escape from them when I did. And it was unfortunate that the only chance I could escape was because of Mew, and the incidents that happened in Cameran Castle within the Kingdom of Rota two years ago." Trying to keep herself standing up fully straight now, she tried to embody her time as Julia Trinity once more.

"I had, perhaps foolishly, thought that the amount of backlash that they would get from such a public attack by their most aggressive and hard to control extremists among their order would humble them, show that the people do not care for them. That it would show that they are unwanted, unneeded, that their entire order was wrong and that people were not being corrupted, but they were. As I rejoined my true family, the legendary pokemon and my brother and sister's side, I told them of what I had learned in my time spent as their captive, of what I had done to try and re-educate them from within. Perhaps by being called terrorists and now under open investigation by multiple governing bodies, they would understand that were not helping people." Dahlia looked over the crowd, gaining a bit more confidence and resolve in her actions now as she talked. Although still angry, she managed to steel herself and speak more clearly, even as she still held the lectern tightly.

"These past two years however have shown me and the legendary pokemon the error of our ways. I accept my own piece of responsibility for allowing them to get to this point, but I could only do so much as their captive without risking war from within and putting the lives of innocent people at risk. To my deep regret however, it has become clear that The Knights of Arceus are already prepared for and willing to wage open warfare on anyone who disagrees with their collective order. They have no intention of being subject to the same laws that govern the various nations of the world, and so I am forced to accept responsibility for my own failures." Dahlia stated, stopping herself from damaging the lectern further when she hard it starting to crack again.

"To that end, I am prepared to take action. I have fully provided the Japanese National Counsel all the information that I have acquired over the years about the Knights of Arceus. I have isolated the activities of the Knights from the general employees who have nothing to do with them and while this may cause disruptions to general economy, I can no longer allow them to use the company that I have made to prepare for war. I had allowed them move supplies and more for over thirty years using my company because I thought that I had stopped them from taking innocent lives. I was wrong." Dahlia said slowly. Prior to making this announcement she had been in contact with several people, and knew that even as she was speaking, the main office for Trinity Shipping located in Eternia City was currently being locked down by the Japanese National Counsel. While everyone who could prove their identity that wasn't a knight would quickly be released, Dahlia could only wonder what was going on there at the moment, and hoping that things were going smoothly.

"By now the Kings, those who make the higher decisions of the Knights of Arceus are well aware of the fact that they no longer hold any good will among the people. The people do not want you. They do not need you. They will not praise you or thank you. You have become the very evil you supposedly fight against. There is a reason why the temples of the legendary pokemon that have reached out will not call upon the Knights. The temples of my family, of the legendary pokemon will continuously reject you as you as are now, blinded and refusing to listen as you are." Dahlia stated firmly, snapping a bit at the Knights in her announcement meant directly for them.

"If you truly have good intentions, the only means that you have to prove this are by turning yourselves in. You will allow the people that you have assaulted and attacked to pass judgment upon you, subject to the laws that are used to govern the lands that you claim that you are protecting, but have so far refused to apply to yourselves. The people have not wanted you for hundreds of years, you have knowingly rejected the words my mother Arceus, and you continue to hunt her children. And in doing so, you put the entire world at risk." Formerly just an announcement for the knights, Dahlia now shifted to directly calling the Knights of Arceus out, this entire televised announcement meant for them after all.

"By the will of my mother, by the grace of Arceus... I extend an invitation to the Kings of the Knights of Arceus. I know who you are. I know your names, your faces, where you live, where you pretend to work, where you have gathered in the past. Surrender yourselves, announce who you are to your captives, and accept the arrangements to come and directly to meet with the World Mother Arceus. She will explain the very sins that you have committed by hunting her children. And she may yet offer a chance at redemption for your entire order." Dahlia stated firmly now. Although she hated this idea, they had to do something with the Knights, and just maybe some of them would be willing to listen to Arceus herself on the matter.

"But know this... I have shown restraint, tempered by the will of my family. They know everything I know about the Knights of Arceus. We knowingly give you this chance to disarm and surrender. But if you continue these attacks against the last of her children, the legendary pokemon will come to the unanimous decision to not forgive you. You are being given one chance at redemption, and if you waste this one opportunity, you will never have the forgiveness of the World Mother Arceus." The lectern quickly started to crack as Dahlia continued one against, her grip with both hands starting to splinter and rip into the wood.

"If you kill the last of her children, there will no forgiveness, no glory, no saviors among the legendary pokemon who will disown you and eternally refuse you in our presence. Everything I have learned about the Knights during my time as your captive will be made public information, the name and face of every knight will be given to every last governing body on the planet. My elder brothers and sisters... some of the legendary pokemon themselves may very well lead the charge to arrest you where your trial will not be before your peers, but the very gods you claim to worship and protect. You have one chance to make peace with the World Mother and the legendary pokemon. Do not waste it." Dahlia stated, once more taking a piece off wood off the lectern she had been holding. With her words done, and clearly unable to control herself any longer, she just turned and walked off the stage.