Pokémon in a New World

Coming out of his musings, Daniel noticed a large group of people walking by him in a hurried manner.

Before he could investigate what was going on, he suddenly felt an impact from behind. Turning his head, Daniel only raised his eyebrows with a humored expression as he saw Elizabeth hanging with her arms around his neck with a broad grin on her face.

"Danny!" She exclaimed. "C'mon, the King is here! Let's go, let's go!" She said, swinging her body in eagerness.

Hoisting her up to sit comfortably on his back, Daniel chuckled. "Alright alright, calm down, we're going."

Following the crowd, the duo soon found themselves at the town square. There, they were greeted by quite the sight.

An ensemble of forty to fifty knights stood in perfect stillness. Their silver armor, tinted with blue trim, gleamed in the sunlight. They stood at attention. A line split directly down the middle between them lead to an extremely ornate and sturdy carriage. It's appearance seemed to scream "royalty."

As Daniel made his way over to the Elders, he let Elizabeth down off of his back. Before she could protest, the Kings knight, whom Daniel recognized as the same one he saw in his previous visit, grasped the carriage door and said in a booming voice,

"I present King Aldric, Ruler of Luthadel! May his line never end and his power never waver!"

With this, he pulled open the carriage door to reveal none other than the King himself who proceeded to step out. Soon after the King came the Magician close behind him. The King, along with the Head Knight, and Magician, walked through the rows of Knights.

Soon enough Daniel, along with the Elders and Elizabeth, stood in front of The King. One of the Elders spoke up with respect in his voice, "My King, what an honor it is to have you bless our simple town with a visit. If there's anything you need during your stay, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Hmm." The King nodded absentmindedly. While he was only half listening to the old man's words, his gaze was wondering through the croud, an unreadable expression on his face.

Ignoring the Elder, much to his chagrin, The King addressed Daniel directly. "Daniel, it seems you've been busy."

A confused look appeared on Daniel's face. "What do you mean?" "These townspeople have fully integrated your creatures into their lives haven't they?" The King gestured to the crowd of people and the many pokemon mixed within the crowd.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy with this outcome, just surprised. I expected it to take a bit more effort for the mysterious creatures to win people's hearts."

"Haha," Daniel laughed aloud. "Pokémon are wonderous creatures who're able to win hearts of man and woman alike. I dare say that even you may just grow fond enough of a Pokémon to allow it to be by your side."

The King raised an eyebrow at Daniel's claim. After a moment of silent deliberation from the King, he spoke. "That may indeed be a good idea. Can I trust you to aid me in finding a suitable companion among these creatures?"

Daniel was taken aback by the Kings willingness to personally raise a Pokémon. He had mentioned it as nothing more than a polite suggestion for the future, but who knew the King would take his words to heart?

After a moments hesitation, Daniel responded. "King Aldric, this isn't impossible for me to do, but how about we move onto the reason for your visit for now. Such things can wait."

The King looked at Daniel for a moment before agreeing, "Very well, where are we headed?" "The forest, Your Majesty. I've constructed an arena of sorts where we'll be able to witness the conclusion of the Pokémon battle tournament."

"I see, in that case you and..." he cast a glance at the little girl holding onto the edge of Daniel's shirt from behind, "your daughter may ride with me along the way, it'll be nice for my son to have someone his age to talk to on the ride."

"Ride with you? Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose." "Haha," the King laughed heartily, his stoic faccad broken momentarily. "Dear Daniel, I'm the King! What I say goes, and I say you're riding with me, that's just how it is!"

Seeing no reason to refuse, Daniel decided to just go with it. Then he addressed the other part of the Kings words. "Your Majesty, you said you had a son? Forgive me but I don't see a child with you."

"Ahh well you see he may be my son, but he's a bit shy in front of crouds. A lot like his mother, bless her heart." The King said with an odd look in his eye that Daniel couldn't quite place. "He's actually waiting in the carriage. He really wanted to see your creatures and given that I can hardly ever convince him to leave the castle, let alone his room, I saw this as a great opportunity to help broaden his horizons."

After learning about the young boy, he couldn't help but look down at Elizabeth. Everything he'd heard about the boy seemed to be the exact opposite of her.

While the boy seemed to be a recluse and would rather spend time alone, Elizabeth was very outgoing and playful. She was always playing in the forest with the Pokémon or running around town whenever they visited. He wouldn't be surprised if the entire town new Elizabeth by now, especially with how friendly she was.

Shaking his head and getting rid of his thoughts Daniel turned back to the King, "I see, well it would be an honor to ride with you Your Majesty."

"Great!" The King smiled before turning to the Mage. "Victor, go ahead and ride a horse the rest of the way, no need to be uncomfortable in the carriage with so many people."

While Daniel couldn't see the man's whole face due to the shadow cast by his hood, he was sure the man seemed to tense at the Kings dismissive attitude. Nonetheless, the mage simply nodded before he turned and left to find a suitable horse.

The King turned and walked back to the carriage, Daniel and Elizabeth following close behind.

Daniel admired the view of the carriage close up before his eyes soon landed on a little boy sitting quietly on the edge of his seat reading a book. The entire group of 4 were soon seated and the boy still hadn't looked up from his book.

The King let out a deep sigh before leaning over and speaking directly in the boys ear. "Son, we've got company." The effect on the boy was instantaneous. His body perked in surprise and he dropped his book simultaneously letting out a yell, "Ahhh!"

The King just rested his head in his hand as he leaned on the window. It seemed he'd dealt with similar scenarios often in the past.

Quickly looking around the boy finally realized the presence of new people in the carriage. "S-sorry, I get a bit distracted when I read sometimes." "Sometimes?" The asked with a raised eyebrow.

The boy lowered his head in embarrassment before he saw his book on the ground. "My book!" He quickly reached down to grab it, only to find the person sitting across from him had beaten him to it. Looking up he suddenly met the wide eyes of Elizabeth. "Hi, I'm Elizabeth! What's your name?"

She had a big smile on her face, her brown eyes complimented by her wavy brown hair that flowed to the side as she tilted her head in confusion at the boys lack of a response.

With a nudge from his father the boy jerked before he spoke in a soft stutter "Jay-J-Jason. My name's Jason."