Welcome back everyone to the next chapter to "Crawling!" Hope you enjoy it!

The two girls had continued to dash through the enormous castle they were currently in. Taking sharp lefts and rights here and there, they had finally come back to the same living room where Brock and King Norman have been privately talking.

"Father! Father!" May shouted, once stepping into the room with her friend.

"…May? If you don't mind, I'm in an important conversation with-"

"No no! This is about the Aura Guardians," She said back to her father.

"And how did you know we were talking about just that?" He raised a brow at her.

"My apologies, your Majesty, but I couldn't help but overhear your discussion about the Guardians…" Dawn lowered her head in guilt.

"Well…you caught us now. Might as well say what's been on you girls' mind," Norman said quite calmly as he leaned back further into his chair.

May nodded. "Well, as we all know, the Aura Guardians have all been wiped out by the hands of the Kings of Kanto and Johto. However! There remains one still alive. An eighteen year old boy by the name of Shadow who has given himself a dark reputation in Johto and Kanto. We believe that with his help, he can provide Hoenn with our much needed protection."

Norman merely blinked at the new information being transferred to his mind. "Are you positive he is only eighteen? That would explain why he hasn't fought in that war considering you had to be an adult…"

May continued to speak. "And that's the thing. Dawn and I suspect he must be the son of Sir Aaron, the legendary Aura Guardian and the last to be killed in the war."

"I see…" The king trailed off. "But what makes you think that such a mythical warrior would want to help us?"

Dawn cut in. "Well since his people were all killed by Kanto and Johto, we think that he may help to seek vengeance amongst them."

"Well, it's definitely worth a shot…but where on earth would we find him?"

Everyone in the room thought about that for a while, before a metamorphic light bulb appeared over Brock's head, raising a finger at his epiphany. "I'd say you look for him in Pallet Town! Since it's clear to us that he originated from Kanto, why not just start from there?"

"Like we said before it's going to be extremely tough to find him, but we'll give it a shot," Norman said.

The others showed signs of agreement, nodding and throwing in last minute information and ideas.

"Very well. I'll get on horseback and begin my search as soon as possible."

…

Within just minutes, Norman had made his way out of the castle, and into the front of his castle. But right before, he made sure to notify everyone he was leaving shortly, putting his wife temporarily in charge until he was back.

"Greetings your Majesty! How may I serve you?" The stable boy asked politely, looking up at the king.

Norman smiled and bowed slightly. "I'm in need of a Rapidash. I'm setting off to search for some help."

The worker nodded. "Right away, your Majesty!"

He had opened one of the single stables, revealing a strong and healthy looking Rapidash, as it stepped out and stood next to Norman.

At that moment, the king hopped right on and gripped the pair of reins in his hands.

There was still one more thing he had to do.

Norman did a very brief check on his belongings. Water? Check. Food? Check. Sword? Check. Pokemon? Check. Horse? Yeah he was ready.

The man slapped the reins against the Rapidash, and the two were off at the speed of a bullet.

…

It had been hours later, and Norman had no such luck of finding his wanted man. This was much harder than he had figured.

Where could a teen boy possibly be in the region?

It was just another while until he reached Pallet Town, but with all his hope, he prayed he would find the boy.

In the meanwhile, Norman's Rapidash slowed its pace down as they approached the tall green hill looking down at Pallet Town.

It was a small town, only around a dozen homes visible, but that would just quicken his search. So that would be a pretty simple task for him.

Norman instructed Rapidash to move down the hill, and the two approached the first house they saw. Starting with that.

When the two of them were pretty much at the front door of the house, Norman hopped off his mount, and tied the reins of the horse to a wooden fence.

The King took a deep breath. Not completely confident all would go well. But he had to try. After all, the fate of his kingdom lay before him.

Norman alas stepped up to the front door and gave it three loud knocks, placing one hand on the handle of his strapped sword just in case.

A few minutes had gone by and no answer from the door. The king just shrugged and just as he was about to turn around and move to his next house, the door flung open.

"Hello…?"

Norman turned around. "Oh, hello Miss. Is there any chance you have heard of a "Shadow" lingering around the region?"

The woman, looking to be around middle aged, jumped back, gripping tightly to the edges of the door, and peeking nervously at Norman.

"Wh-why yes…he happens to be the most feared man in the regions! W-why do you ask?" The lady said just above a whisper.

"Well, I'm in search of him. Any clue where I might find him? I've heard he grew up here with his father being Sir Aaron?"

The woman nodded once again. "Yes. Sir Aaron is not alive today, but his wife, Delia still lives here. She might be able to give a better answer than I. Sorry."

Norman nodded in understanding. "Which house does she live in?"

"The house right across from this one right here," She replied, gesturing towards the home.

The King took a brief moment to look back at the home. It appeared rather small…and a bit run down from most likely all that time passing from the war.

"Thank you very much for the help. All is appreciated."

"No need for thanks…say…you're the King of Hoenn, correct?"

Norman smiled. "That would be me."

"Ah…it's great to meet you your Majesty…best of luck with the Kingdom."

"Thank you Miss."

Just as the woman slowly shut the door, Norman headed to the building across, in hopes he can find more help there.

The king knocked three times on this door, giving off the same loud thuds.

He then patiently waited for a reply, to which he had received momentarily.

The door was pushed open so that what showed was a middle aged woman with light brunette hair. She wore light colored clothes, which seemed a bit old like the state of the home.

And she seemed tired judging by her droopy and baggy eyes.

"Hello…? How may I help you?" The woman said.

"Hello…my name is Norman, the King of Hoenn. Are you Delia Ketchum?"

"Yes, I am...would you like to come in?"

Norman nodded. "If it's no trouble."

The king stepped into the home and it was indeed very small. There was the kitchen to his left, a living room to his right and a staircase up ahead.

The two each took a seat at separate chairs in the living room to discuss what Norman had been wanting to know.

"I came here to ask if you had any idea where your son is. You see, he is one of the most powerful Aura users in the universe, and I desperately need his assistance to protect my kingdom."

"Hmmm...he's that powerful, huh? Well, I hate to say that I don't remember much. I have a mild form of amnesia, so a lot of memories are cloudy for me. And it doesn't really help that I haven't seen my son in years."

"What happened?"

"I don't exactly recall what happened when he left. I'm very sorry."

Norman nodded. "Do you know where he lives at the moment?"

"Well I know for a fact that he doesn't live in Pallet Town anymore. I believe somewhere deeper into the Kanto region is all I can say."

Getting up from his chair, Norman spoke. "That information will suffice for now. I appreciate all the help and my apologies for your unpleasant past. I can understand the things you've been going through."

Delia sighed. "Thank you. And it's alright. I don't want to keep you any longer, so I just want to say good luck with everything. I've tried finding my son myself, but I haven't had such luck."

The King stood frozen in his place, registering what she had just said, before walking out of the home and getting back on his mount.

Whipping the reins, Rapidash left Pallet Town and continued its way through Kanto.

…

More hours had passed that day, and Norman took a short break in the middle of the forest.

He was currently sitting down, munching on a small meal Brock had prepared just for him, while taking occasional gulps at the water in his leather sack looking bottle.

Norman sighed to himself. He was becoming more discouraged with the lack of progress he had been covering, as well as the feeling of pure pity for Delia.

She was only a poor middle aged woman with amnesia who couldn't even remember the name of her own son. But now that he thought about it, nobody did.

He had put away all the packaged containers which had his afternoon lunch, and his leather water bottle, which he took a few more sips from.

Right as he was about to get back on his Rapidash, he heard something.

"What on earth…?" He thought.

The sounds were becoming clearer and much more audible.

Norman couldn't quite tell what the sounds were, but it sounded similar to Pokemon attacks…that was his guess at least.

Norman walked through the forest, tip toeing through the leaves, and holding an arm behind him to tell Rapidash to stay put.

The King removed the sword from his belt, and had one pokeball in the other hand to prepare himself for an unexpected attack.

He pushed through some shrubs, and past some branches dangling helplessly from the tall trees, until he eventually came to an open area in the forest.

"What's…this?"

Right ahead of him was a man in a blue tunic, hat, boots, gloves, and grey trousers. He couldn't get a good look at who the mystery man was, but he was currently mock fighting with his Lucario.

Norman did nothing but watch. And when he saw the boy dodge a hit from Lucario, his hat was positioned in an angle so that a familiar symbol was shown to him.

It was a blue lightning bolt.

…What? Could it be the boy he was looking for?! It couldn't be! It just seemed too good to be true!

As relieved as he was, the King still remained hidden, as he wanted to see if what he had heard was true about this boy. His power. His abilities. Everything.

Ahead, Lucario was using its Close Combat attack, throwing a powerful blitz of punches and kicks at its master, all to which were dodged swiftly.

The boy waited for an opening, before he moved it and punched the Pokemon in its side, before doing a quick takedown, bringing the jackal like Pokemon to the ground.

With a few seconds passing by, the mysterious boy let go of his Pokemon, and gave him a hand to help him up. "That was a good match Lucario. Thank you for that."

Lucario almost instantaneously kneeled before him and bowed. "It was my pleasure, Master."

The cloaked figure smiled, before he walked over to his own horseback, Rapidash, who was standing patiently by a tree.

As he had hopped on, he returned Lucario, which then brought another familiar Pokemon to jump on his shoulder.

He was just about to slap the reins against his mount to leave, but Norman made his entrance, to which the boy was immediately aware of as soon as a branch cracked underneath Norman's foot.

The boy quickly drew a sword from his belt, and Rapidash turned around to face their foe, which in this case, was Norman.

"Who goes there!" The cloaked figure demanded.

"It's ok….I'm not looking for trouble!" Norman replied truthfully. "I'm the King of Hoenn and I'm only wishing to speak to you for a short time."

The boy didn't seem fully convinced, and kept his sword pointed at Norman. "Do you expect me to believe that? These woods are filled with bandits, so how do you expect me to believe you aren't one of them?"

"My crown and attire. It's one only given to a King," Norman said as he showed his sword as well.

On his sword, were symbols of the Maple family. They were permanently engraved by the finest of sword makers.

The boy took a second and nodded.

At last his eyes glew as he scanned Norman to detect any possible lies coming from him.

But he had found none.

As soon as the boy's eyes had returned to its normal blue color, he hesitantly nodded to him. "Very well then. Follow me to my place and we can discuss what you want further. But it better not be a waste of my time," He bluntly stated before his Rapidash began to slowly walk over to his house.

...Well Norman now knew he was indeed an amazing fighter, but to be honest, he wasn't quite fond of his attitude. He sighed, and jogged over to his mount before walking side by side of him.

The two walked in silence. King and Aura Guardian each on a Rapidash as they had absolutely nothing to say to each other.

Attempting to break the ice, Norman asked carefully. "So they call you Shadow?..."

Giving no verbal response, Shadow merely nodded, with Pikachu resting peacefully in front of him.

"I see..."

...

A few more minutes of the awkward ride, the two had finally arrived to a small house. It seemed to be homemade, but was in a much better condition than Delia Ketchum's.

The two wasted no time in hopping off their horses and tied their reins to some wooden poles sticking from the ground.

"Follow me," Shadow blankly said, walking into the shelter.

Norman finished up tying his knot in the reins, taking a moment to look up at Shadow.

The King walked in after the boy, and the two were immediately greeted with the living room in the middle of the one story house.

"Take a seat," Shadow told the older man, as he took his own chair, both arms resting on the armrests of the cushioned seat.

"Now, you had something to speak to me of?" Shadow asked as he drank from a mug sitting on the wooden table in front of him.

"Yes…I know about you…uh…Shadow. I know about your abilities and how you're the last of your kind..."

Shadow put his mug down, and cut him off a bit rudely. "Ok save the breath. Where is this going?"

"I come here because I ask you for your help," Norman hopefully said, eyeing the boy with pleading eyes. "My kingdom is under attack from the Kanto and Johto forces. It's just too much for my one kingdom to handle. But with the help of an Aura Guardian, it would provide us plenty of protection. We desperately need your help, so if you would accept…"

Shadow thought for a second. "I think I'm missing the point here. Why exactly would I want to help you?"

"Well…you do have a dark reputation going on in those kingdoms, and plus, you have the opportunity to seek vengeance for the horrible massacre of your people…your father."

"Don't talk about my father! I already know much about him. I certainly don't need to hear him from you," He rudely said.

Norman nodded, respectively. He didn't want to piss this boy off, otherwise how would he earn the help he needed?

"My apologies…so when can I await an answer from you..?"

"…"

Norman gave Shadow his pleading eyes. "Please...it would be the end for my kingdom if you weren't here to help! Tons and tons of innocent lives being taken! We cannot let those armies grow stronger with Hoenn being taken over as well!" Norman said with a more threatening tone. "If you do not accept I shall have you executed!"

Shadow took a few more sips at his drink, before pushing the fluid down his throat. Not even looking a tad bit afraid. "I'll tell you what. I'll consider it, but for now, my answer remains a no."

The Hoenn King placed his face in the palms of his hands and let out a depressed sigh. Well, he may not have gotten the answer he wanted, but at least he got Shadow to think about his request.

"I suggest you be on your way now. Wouldn't want to keep your people waiting without a king," Shadow suggested to him.

Norman turned around and began to make his way to the door, before turning around to face the guardian, who still sat at his chair with his Pikachu snoozing on his lap.

"Farewell then… show up at the Hoenn castle if you've changed your mind."

Shadow said nothing, but took another sip from his drink. Thinking more about the distressed king's request.

End

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Well!

Until next time!

~Ashura Satoshi