Hello again everyone, I'm back from Baltimore and no longer need the horrible internet connection the hotel provided. Thanks to all who clicked on the story and to everyone who has commented so far, especially Sailor Taichichi Vegeta. You have commented on every chapter and I thank you for that. Anyway, now that I am back I have a shit load of homework to catch up on, Why? Because I left school early in the week so i could see my cousin stationed there as well. But screw that, I like you people better.

Sailor Taichichi Vegeta: I thought about a Fearow coming in too at some point, but there would be no excuse if they got out of that alive. If he lived through that he would be too overpowered. A skirt would make her seem more feminine I guess, pants just didn't seem like something she would have worn. So I went with an old raggedy skirt/dress thing. Does she seem like the type of girl to go around with a sword slashing and hacking down Pokemon or people? The answer is no, that's Ash's job. Where else was Tracey going live? I want to incorporate as many characters as possible while still moving the story along. Yeah I was visiting Baltimore and stayed at a crappy Comfort Inn. The cops came at around two and then five later on the second night because of a frat party or something. And on the first night I had to wake up early for my first match leaving my level of sleep at still haven't slept past six thirty in three weeks. Oh well, I have caffeinated tea and that's all I need. I won second and then first in doubles with my friend George who flew with me. So not bad, I won third in mixed doubles as well but I threw that medal out (she doesn't know I did though, that'd just hurt her feelings if I told her) There were only three teams competing and me and my partner lost to both so I never earned the medal, I just got something no else was there to take. Wow this is long.

Chapter 7: The Lost Princess is Found

Ash was soaked. He had been running for a long time. It was daybreak already, still foggy and murky, but you could see the sun barley reaching the horizon. He had his hands on his knees and was breathing very hard. May lay on the ground next to him with Eevee poking a collapsed Pikachu who had begin to run with Ash halfway through the trip, facing upwards and breathing just as hard as Ash, if not harder. "I think. we. lost them" May said in between breaths

"I think we didn't, even have them, in the first place" Ash said with more composure than May, but he still couldn't form a sentence without pausing for breath.

May sat up at that "Than why were we running away like that!?" May shouted

Ash looked at her like she was stupid "You're right, next time we'll walk away from the soldiers hunting you down" Ash said, finally catching his second wind "Which reminds me, who the fucking hell are you that Giovanni goes though the trouble of burning down a village just to flush you out? At first I thought you were just a girl that cabbage head wanted to marry, but his desires weren't reciprocated hence you running away, but now, now you are someone Giovanni himself wants"

"You like the king?" May asks, now a little afraid of the possibility he was going to turn her in

Ash scoffed "Not fucking likely. That bastard can go rot in hell while I watch with a smile on my face"

"Then I don't see the problem. You hate the king so your causing him an inconvenience by helping me all the while still getting money out of it"

"You're right I do hate the tyrant king, but I'm not stupid enough to get his attention enough for him to either hire me or send soldiers to kill me" Ash said

May laughed "You had already been hired by him. You were searching for me in the Dark Forest weren't you?"

"Yeah but that was for the walking plant. He'd forget my name after he was done paying me" Ash retorted

"What is your name?" May asked

Pikachu's ears perked up at the question and he jumped to his feet and looked at Ash. Ash gland down at the now recovered Pikachu and shook his head, "My name is not something I go around using freely. It'd attract too much attention."

"You're an Aura Guardian aren't you? You already attract a lot of attention"

"Why in the fiery pits of hell would I join them?" Ash said

"But... you're wearing and Aura Guardian's hat aren't you? It looks a little different from the usual style but it's an Aura Guardian's hat. Were you disavowed or something? Why are you a mercenary now?"

Ash sighed "I've never been an Aura Guardian. I did, however, travel with one for a few months. Actually that's a lie, he's was still in training. But it looks different because I took off the band of cloth that goes around the top that has the Aura Guardian's emblem on it"

"Then how did you get the hat. And why take off the cloth?"

"He gave it to me to me and I don't want to be seen as something I'm not. That and I don't want people to think I actually am an Aura Guardian"

"Why not? They're working to save everyone in Sinnoh and Hoenn. After they're done there they will go help Johto and Kanto" May said

"You really don't know anything do you? The Aura Guardian's are confined to their islands except for training, getting food and visiting their families who have been relocated to the coast of Iron Island. Giovanni had attacked Sir Aaron's family, killing both his wife and his son so Sir Aaron, in order to protect the rest of the Aura Guardian's families, made a deal wit Giovanni that said they wouldn't interfere if their families could be moved to the coast and the other conditions I just told you about"

"That's horrible, Giovanni killed a child" May said

"And the town. Pallet Town no longer exists on the map"

"He burned the entire town down?"

"To the ground and six feet under" Ash said

"I knew he was a horrible person, but that is just evil. But just who is Sir Aaron? and how did he know that those people even had any contact with Sir Aaron? You would think that'd be something they kept a secret"

"Sir Aaron isn't the leader of the Aura Guardians but he might as well be. They follow his orders without question even though they run on a council. He is the most respected Aura Guardian out there, he was the Guardian that almost died by using his aura to stop a battle from happening on a place that has remained neutral throughout the war. The place would have probably been destroyed if he hadn't done that. So when his entire family is killed, all the Guardians feared that if Sir Aaron couldn't protect his own family, how could they protect theirs. As for how they knew he had a family, There's a mercenary that works under Giovanni. She's ruthless, brutal, heartless and above all, the best at what she does. I have no doubt that she got that information"

"How could he do something like that? That's inhumane"

Ash just looked at her. "How long were you in there to not know any of that? You know what, never mind. Let's just get going, I don't like staying in the same place longer than necessary"

He offered her his hand which she took and stood up. "This river is about a days travel from a place I know we'll be safe at for a little. I lost my money at some point during the night and we'll be able to stay at a place for free. All we need to do is go through another forest to the place and we'll have almost reached Hoenn" Ash said

"Is it going to be like the last one?" May asked fearfully, slightly clinging onto Ash's arm

Ash glanced at her arms rapped around his and frowned before freeing his arm "No. This one only had bandits and the Pokemon are more afraid of us than we are of them" He whistled to Pikachu who jumped on his shoulder before they turned and began to walk away. May stood for a moment before running to catch up with them, Eevee on her heels.

Not long after they had begun walking though a low rumbling could be heard. Ash sighed and May blushed a little. "How are you hungry? We ate like, eight hours ago"

"Exactly! that was a while ago and we've been running for a while. I think that we should stop and find something to eat" May said

"Well if this is how it's going to go then it'll take longer than a da-" his vision suddenly went blank and the last thing he heard was May screaming and Pikachu calling at him.

The first thing he noticed was that he was upside down and swaying back and forth. The second thing he noticed were the ropes securely fastened around his feet and wrists. He felt May's back pressed up against his own.

"It was too much trouble to capture these two" A gruff voice said. He looked to his left a little and there were five men, dressed in in baggy black pants and black combat boots. A red shirt with a hood was attached was wore and the hood covered some of their faces but you could still se their eyes. They all had masks that covered their noses and mouths, similar to the one that Ash had around his neck. They had one Pokemon with them, a Slugma that and been glaring at Pikachu and looked ready to launch an attack if need be. He saw Pikachu in metal chains sitting on the ground with Eevee chained to his back as well. Pikachu could use an attack without harming Eevee. He looked to his right and saw his sword, knives, bow, and arrows all piled in a heap.

"Fucking hell. These guys have absolutely no coin on them at all" one said. He was a little scrawny, he was skinny and small and had a short sword attached to his hip. Ash couldn't see much because he was going through his stiff with his back turned to him. "I knew we should have moved from the river back to the pathway through the woods" another one that seemed rather bulky said. He was tall and well built, He had a double edged axe on his back and his hoodie type of shirt was short for him, showing off his muscles.

"Shut up" a woman said "I doubt anyone would have been there. We were lucky even to find these to here, but no one uses that path anymore". She was about Ash's height, she had blueish hair that had two large strands coming from the front down to just below shoulder length. She had a regular sword strapped to her belt and a shield on her back.

"I think we should have gone with the boss into the town to win some money" the fourth one said "We haven't had any luck robbing people here and we have only managed to get good food because the boss knows how to fight in the ring". This one was a little taller than Ash. He had his own bow laid on the ground next to him and a quiver of arrows in his back. He had multiple knives placed on a strap that went around his chest that was probably meant to hold the quiver in place.

"I agree with Matt on this one" the final one said "The boss had been getting his ass beat, admittedly less than he dishes it out but none the less he has been busting his ass to get us decent food and water while we sit on our asses all day hoping for someone rich to come along", the one with the bow, now identified as Matt nodded his thanks. The fifth one was taller then Matt and had a longsword strapped to his back, he also had a shield on his back.

"Well David it's not like we can just let them go and say "no hard feelings". What are we supposed to do about them?" the woman asked. David shrugged "I don't know but I don't want to spill any unnecessary blood Samantha"

"How about we wait till the boss gets here. He'll know what to do with them" the scrawny one said. "We don't know when the boss is getting back Thomas" the big one said "It could be a while longer".

"Butch has a point, the boss doesn't want to cameo here after beating the crap out of some loser in the ring to come and deal with this anyway. We have to deal with this ourselves. We can't rely on the boss for everything" David said

"Agreed" Samantha said "The only thing that I can think of that would be safe to do, is kill them". Matt shifted uncomfortably at that. "I don't want to have to kill someone that hasn't done anything to deserve it" Matt said

"Well if we let them go they'll probably go and tell the guards. Then what'll we do?" Samantha said.

"Wait, please don't harm us" May said, still facing away from them. "Well looks like they're both awake now" Butch said

"Please, we're just travelers trying to get to the Hoenn region is all. If you let us go we will won't tell a soul that you robbed us" May pleaded

"How the hell can we be sure that you won't sprint to the city and tell the guards that we're here? You aren't making a convincing argument here. So far it's Me Butch and Thomas for killing you, and only Matt and David against it"

Butch looked at Ash "What about you? You aren't going to plead or come up with a treason for us to not kill you?"

Ash just looked at Butch calmly in the eyes "I have never once in my life pleaded for my life. I am not going to start now". You could see Butch grin behind his mask. "I like this guy, he's tough" Butch said

"So you change your vote?" Matt asked, Butch shook his head though "No, I like him, but he looks like he knows how to use that sword. I'm taking no chances"

"Sorry guys but it looks like you're going to die here" Samantha said. She drew her sword halfway out of here sheath before a hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"Samantha, this is not how we treat old friends" the newcomer said. He was as tall as Ash and had a sword on his hip and a bow and quiver on his back. He also had a mask on, he wore no hood though so his white hair shoed with a black headband with a red half circle. His red eyes showed fierceness to him and his built stature showed he was a fighter. He wore a black jacket that hung loosely and unattached to its other end and had two thick red stripes going up the sides and then the half circle was again on the chest part, untouched by the two stripes on the sides. He had his other hand in his pants pocket which was also black and had shoes that had some red patterns on the main black color.

"Boss?" Butch said. The man glanced over at Butch before walking up to Ash and crouching so he was staring into the upside down Ash's eyes. "The masks won't be necessary, he knows who we are" the other five took down their makes and their hoods to reveal their faces. He pulled down his mask as well, reveling a grin on his face "It's nice to see you again, Ash" he said.

Ash couldn't help but grin back "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes Ruby. But, can you let us down now? the ropes are starting to hurt a little". Ruby nodded and stood up, he took an arrow from his quiver and sliced through the rope in a quick clean cut before returning the arrow back top its original position. Ash sat up, rubbing his head a little. "Thanks" he said. He turned and offered his hand once again to May how was still facing away from them. She reached out behind her and grabbed his hand before allowing him to help her up. She finally turned to get to see the people's faces. But the second they saw her's all their jaws dropped.

One by one they all bent on one knee, placing the opposite arm on the ground, bowing to Ash and May till it was just Ruby standing in front of them. "Rubyt what the hell is going on" Ash said. Ruby didn't even acknowledge Ash he simply looked at May "All hail the long lost princess of Hoenn, May Maple, daughter of Norman Maple the rebel king" he said while lowering himself into the same type of bow.

I'm sorry everybody. This is a short chapter and I know it. I also am aware that (STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER) Ruby does't have white hair and that's a hat, but I wanted to incorporate the white hair look to him since its what you see him as. Besides I think he looks good with his hair spiked up. Anyway, thanks to everyone who clicked on the story and to Sailor Taichichi Vegeta for commenting on every chapter. Comments, suggestions, encouragement, hate, and anything else are always welcome. Thanks again and till next time

-novaking2832