Hi again, so I'm typing this on my computer again. The internet finally got up and working again, only took them four days. So I am trying for a new name for the story. The title of a story is supposed to reflect the plot of the story in a few words, hence why I changed the title. The Ranger and the Princess didn't reflect the plot considering it's based on revenge. So if you guys have something better than what I changed it to when I post this, go ahead and tell me, I'm happy if you guys have something better than mine.

AdvancedLover: It means revenge or vendetta in Latin. I was trying for a better title, hope you like whatever I have up at this point better, sorry.

Fallingarcher22: Yeah, I apologize for that, you may see that a few times. I know, I really should not be changing it, but it had been irritating me for so long that I had to do something, I was just thinking of a title that fits. "Nah man, I'm out y'all"... you know, that actually describes what happened pretty well. I know, especially getting all the grammar and everything correct. It was terrible, I'm sure I made a lot of mistakes

Sailor Taichichi Vegeta: Don't you know? Charizards can go in water (according to my friend who I use for all the knowledge about Pokemon), as long s their tail flame burns strong enough. As for Ash, let's just say he's not exactly safe when he's washing him. I just thought of what I would do in that situation, which (sadly) would be to laugh in a girl's face for not understanding a guy. I'll be honest, I just modified a recipe from the restaurant I work at in Boston. I'm good now, but they did charge us while it was down.

Noble Boss: Wow, 56 hours a week, that is a lot. I have 6 hour shifts that are scattered throughout the week. the schedule changes weekly so i can't really tell you how many hours I work a week, but I don't work 56 hours a week every week like you do. Why does everyone think that he'd stick around after his job was done? It's only logical for him to leave to find another job, or as you'll (hopefully) soon find out, a job will find him. But I guess you already know that considering you're on this chapter

Chapter 25: Colder than Stone

-Ash's POV-

"There's a mining post with hundreds of slaves, both human and Pokemon. Taking down this operation will not only save hundreds of lives, but will also severly hinder King Giovanno's iron, bronze, and gold deposits. We'll start at night, further details about the attack will be discussed one mile away from our target" Lance said to us, pointing on the area were were going to be attacking. We were in a room with a large round, marble table, but the stone had been cut so it created a 3-D model of the entirety of Kanto. The map was a little outdated but it still served its purpose.

"But there is one thing I need to know before we do this. Ash, can you fight?" Lance asked me.

"Do not treat me like I'm weak, of course I can fight" so... a little harsh there. I may or may not still be a little sore about the while "I love you" thing. But it got the point across, apart from being tired I was fine.

Lance just nodded, ignoring my tone. "Alright everyone, it's time to get your Pokemon and head out" he said. I saw grins appear on all of the rebels faces and they all raced outside. I followed slowly, taking my time as I had already grabbed my equipment previous to the meeting, and just as I exited through the door I heard a loud whistle followed by a roar. I looked over to see a massive Charizard come crashing down in front of Red who laughed and patted his snout.

I looked over at Silver who was walking by with a Feraligator, who gave me a harsh glare as he passed, one that I did not flinch under. I saw Gold riding circles around Crystal and her Maganium on his Typhlosion, laughing at her while she just scowled at him.

I looked at Black and White who looked like they were arguing about something and their two Emboars were facing each other off, backing up their masters. "So these are their Pokemon" I muttered to myself

"Yep, they're impressive aren't they? They arrived one after another about two days after you lost consciousness" Yellow said next to me. Although I was surprised by her sudden appearance I kept a straight face "And you have your Pikachu right?" I asked her. She nodded with a smile, I looked around o find him, but he (or she) didn't appear to be present. 'I guess it's time to show them what they'll be up against' I thought to myself

I walked out and gave a two fingered whistle. Two roars instantly emanated from just outside the courtyard. And soon my two behemoth Pokemon landed in front of me and Pikachu at my side. "We got a mission" was all I said to them, but they both nodded, Charizard bending down so I could get on his back. "Ash wait, Lance has to give us the order to go. We have to wait for him anyway" Sabrina said.

Wait, when did she get here? "I know, were going during the night correct? Well if we are going to be going in a very dark mine, I'm going to need a little help" I told her before nudging Charizard's side for him to take off "I'll meet you guys on the way" I called back to her

"Ash you are an unbelievable asshole!" I heard her call out from behind me. I laughed at that. "Alright Charizard, lets go to the cave. He should be in there" I told my fire/flying type. Charizard let out a roar in acknowledgment, knowing exactly what, and where I meant. He banked right and set us on the proper course.

Massive cliffs soon arose in the distance, marking our destination. Charizard needed no direction as he flew towards the small opening on the cliffside, it was a little more than halfway up the cliffside. He landed on the cliffside wall, digging his claws into the rock for a grip, Garchomp doing the same on the other side. I set Pikachu on Charizard's shoulder as I climbed over it and leaped to a foothold right next to edge of the opening.

I simply grabbed the side of the opening and pulled myself in to be greeted by the darkness. I paused for a moment, patting my eyes adjust to the light, or lack of. As soon as I managed to see the outline of the cave I made my way through, feeling my way past the obstacles in my way. I felt the wall that my hands brushed as I walked stretch away from me and I knew I had reached my destination.

"You here!?" I called out into the dark cavern, receiving no response. Then I barely heard the quiet flapping of wings and a pair of talons grip my shoulder. "There you are, you could have just answered me" I told him as I scratched him chest.

"Noctowl" was all he said. I shrugged at his answer, I mean I did train him for stealth. I walked towards the exit, but this time I needed no assistance but that from my new companion. Noctowl's can see in the dark as as well as they can during the day, if not better. It made no difference to them whether or not the moon or the sun shone.

Every time I was in danger of hitting and object he'd gently pinch my shoulder with a certain talon to tell me whether to back up, go left, go right, duck, jump, etc. We also had more advanced commands, a version of morse code that he could use to tell me how many enemies there are on a battlefield or what patrols are doing, basically whatever I need to know.

But my Noctowl was special. Not only did we have this silent communication, which is great for stealth ops, but he was also a shiny Noctowl. His wings are pitch black and his chest and head are a dark grey. The set of triangles that decorated his chest and the "horns" that adorned his head making a crown, match his wings in color. It made it so much better for stealth.

Soon, our communication was no longer needed. The light from the cave opening allowed me enough visibility to move about without the fear of maiming myself on an obstacle. Just as I exited the mouth of the cave, Noctowl pushed himself off my shoulder, maintaining a constant altitude and waited patiently while I climbed back on Charizard.

"Charizard, head North by Northwest. I'll tell you when to stop" I said, bringing up a mental image of a map of Kanto in my head. Charizard grunted as he pushed himself off the cliffside and flew in the direction I gave him. I had him land a seven miles away from the mine, in between the mine and the indigo Plateau so I could intercept my employers.

I sat, waiting for a while before Noctowl gave me the "heads up" signal. I hopped back on Charozard's back and we flew to the four small dots on the horizon. As soon as we got close the began to land in a small opening next to a lake and I followed. When I got off Charizard's back again they were already discussing the plan of attack. I took a quick glance around to see how the managed to carry five Pokemon here.

I took a guess that Lance's Dragonite held two at a time and Chrizard carried one. However, I was unaware that that they had two Pidgeots available who could carry a Pokemon and two humans. I saw all the Pokemon accounted for though, White and Black's Emboars, Red's Charizard, Silver's Feraligator, Lance's Dragonite, Gold's Typhlosion, and Crystal's Meganium.

I joined the circle and asked the question that immediately came to my mind "Where's Yellow?".

"She can't really fight and we don't want to force her into anything so we keep her behind" Red said

"That and she wouldn't been flying with Red and Silver and she couldn't handle the thought of wrapping her hands around Red" Gold said.

"You rode with Silver?" I asked Red

"Yeah he did, and I rode with Crystal. She had her arms wrapped me the entire flight here and she loved every second of it" Gold said with a smirk.

"GOLD!" Crystal roared, storming towards him, face red from "anger". Gold laughed and hid behind Red who held Crystal at arms length. "Alright, that's enough. We have work to do" Lance said, calming the situation down immediately. "I'll repeat the plan, Gold, Silver, Sabrina, and I along with our Pokemon will take up positions near the cages where the slaves are kept. Once the fighting starts we will break them out. Crystal, Black, and White and their Pokemon will hold their positions and attack when I give the signal. Ash, you are tasked with keeping this as quiet as possible, you are going in alone and taking out as many people as possible. I doubt you will be able to take out everyone without alerting someone" Lance said

Everyone nodded and began walking towards their positions. Lance walked up behind me and grabbed my arm as I went to my Pokemon who had been listing along with all the other Pokemon "I gave you a hard task to do, Gold and Silver have seen limited combat, but this is their first large scale task. I told the others to hold back because they have seen even less action than Silver and Gold and I want to kept them away from huge fighting as much as possible. We've only done raids up to this point, this is their first bug operation. That's why I sent you in on your own" Lance whispered in my ear

"It's the task you assigned me, I wouldn't complain no matter what you told me to do" I whispered back before breaking out of his grasp and and walking towards my Pokemon. "You heard him, I can't use you till it gets loud. I'm just taking Noctowl" I told them as I took off my hat and put on Garchomp's head, replacing it with my hood and mask.

I walked towards the mine with Noctowl on my shoulder, figuring I'd find a good starting point before I attacked. I had to wait till the sun gave way to the moon anyway. The mining site was a massive crescent shaped rock ridge with woods filling up the rest and stretching to where we had met and beyond. I had climbed up the rock face and now lay on top of it getting a view of the entire dig site.

The area the led to the woods was infested with guards and watch towers, and had barricades to fend off a large scale attack. The rock side the faced inwards towards the dig site had guards towers built into the the side to keep the slaves under control and incase the frontline had to fall back. They were wooden boxes with a slanted roof and a four foot opening for archers with wooden stairs leading up to the tower itself.

I kept looking around the mine to look for any gaps, anything that I could use to my advantage. But I found nothing. The only thing that I could've used if I had to do this alone is the massive set of wooden cages that held all the slaves, but we already had people to cover that. So I began to memorize the patrol routes and shift changes, I had a lot of time to kill.

After what seemed like years, the moon shone high above me and I descended back to the ground. My first target was a one man patrol that hung out near some barricades on the edge of the tree line. I crept through the trees and bushes silently till I saw my man. I dashed around the barricade and made my way behind before grabbing and plunging one of my knives into his throat, silencing the scream that threatened erupt.

I didn't let the body fall to the ground, quickly dragging it into the bushes I came from.

-Gold's POV-

"Do you see him?" Lance asked us all. No one responded, we couldn't see our resident mercenary anywhere. "He was on the edge of the cliffs for hours, and he is hiding behind a tree a little behind the tree line now. Look at the barricade all the way to the left, now move your eyes up a little. Do you see him?" Lance asked us.

This time a few of us nodded, Lance brought us all here, White, Black, Red, the whole gang. He was having us watch what the mercenary did so we could learn a thing or two. So far though, all he did was watch, and I can't even see him no matter how hard I look. He was practically invisible with his mask and hood. Then I caught a blur of movement and I saw one of the guards getting puled behind a barricade. After a few seconds, a flash from his armor just entering the woods told me he was dead. I didn't even see him getting dragged away.

"If you still can't see him, do not focus on one area. Keep your eyes on the area you saw him last" Lance told us. I stopped staring at the area I last saw him at and sure enough, a little shift of some bushes told me he was there, a tree branch bending told me he moved. I could never see him, only the remnants of where he was.

I saw him creep from the underbrush and sprint past the barricade he killed the guard at, I couldn't see him after that. Then, a three man patrol suddenly collapsed to the ground and a Houdoom with them. I saw a blur of movement move past them, diving behind another barricade. But once again I lost site of the Ranger. I stopped focusing on the area and just stared blankly at the spot he was at, looking for movement.

But I saw nothing. For minutes nothing happened, there was absolute silence aside from the wind and the clanging of the armor the soldiers adorned. "What the hell is he doing?" Silver hissed "Did he get cold feet?"

"So you really didn't notice?" Lance said

"Notice what?" Silver said. Lance smirked "That every guard in the towers are dead" I looked back at the mine, examining each tower. Sure enough, there were no more soldiers stationed on them. He either threw them over the edge, or ket the bodies hit the floor. Probably the latter of the two. I looked in every direction, but I still couldn't see him.

The guard tower on the cliff face" Lance said. I looked over there and sure enough, he was laying down on top of the roof of the guard tower. He slowly crept over to the edge when suddenly, a Pokemon flew up to him and sat on his back. They both did nothing for a few seconds before the Pokemon took off again, eventually disappearing into the night.

I looked back at Ash, he was now crouching on the roof, both hands on the edge of the overhang. Then he jumped forward just enough to clear the overhang of the roof and spun, turning himself around so he was looking inside the guard tower. He grabbed the edge of the overhang and swung himself inside the tower. We saw nothing more for a little bit, before he walked out of the tower.

The Pokemon returned, and sat on his shoulder. Once could have been a weird coincidence, but now I was sure that was the "help" he had set off early to get.

He was halfway down the stairs when someone finally discovered a body. There was a lot of shouting, but I don't think they know where he is. I looked back up to where he was, for him to be gone once again. The shouts suddenly increased and I found him again, fending off three men. His Pokemon swooped down and hovered in front of on of them, the soldier collapsed.

'What attack was that?' I thought. "Gold, Silver, Sabrina, you're with me. Everyone else, free the slaves" Lance said before jumping from the cliff we had been hiding on, landing on a cage full of Pokemon. He cut off the chain the held their cage before jumping down and joining the fray.

"Time to raise hell" I heard Silver say with a grin

-Ash POV-

It had been going so well. Noctowl when and used hypnosis on a few of the guards in some of the towers, making my job easier. He would scout out the location of all the soldiers I couldn't see and tell me where they were and how many of them were there. From there I could gauge whether or not I could take them out silently. It was working well, humans and Pokemon are predictable to a certain extent.

But the unknown was always present. A friend of one of the guards could have going to say hi or give them food, maybe restock the weapons or arrows. maybe someone had to go to the bathroom and found the body I hid in the woods. I couldn't predict things like that. I did know this was going to get loud though, it was just a matter of how many men I could take out before it did.

So now I was fighting one guy with another sleeping thanks to Noctowl, and another I had killed. But I saw all the others swarming towards me, I cannot kill that many soldiers. Then I heard the battle cry of Lance and the clang of metal. I had backup this time. Then there was Pokemon running everywhere. From Golems to Milktanks, even an Oddish. What the hell is an Oddish going to do in a mine?

Most ran away into the forest, but some stayed and fought. Then humans rushed out of there cages, many stayed, taking up weapons from fallen soldiers or just using their bare fists. "Noctowl, go now" I told him. He flew off in the direction of my other Pokemon. "So this is a real battle eh?" Red said, putting his back to mine. "You sound excited" I said to him, praying a blade at the same time.

"Are you kidding me? I'm terrified" He said while ducking under a slash. I spun around and barely managed to kill the man who had attack him, just catching his throat. "With that attitude you're going to die" I muttered to him, facing my opponent again. I heard Red grunt as he got up again, I took a quick glance around, looking to make sure everyone was alive. I saw Black, White, and Silver taking on a large group of enemies with the help of some Pokemon and some former slaves.

I saw Gold and Sabrina taking on a Houndoom, some Arbok, a Nidoking, and some Golbat along with their handlers. They too had help from the former slaves, human and Pokemon alike. I couldn't see anyone else though, the crowd was too thick. Red and I were backed into a corner, our backs against the cliffside. I was short of breath, but we hadn't even been scratched yet.

'Time to go with teamwork here' I thought. Two men came at us, both attacking with an overhead. I blocked both with my sword "Go!" I yelled at Red. He came from behind me and slashed horizontally across the two soldiers chests. I spun around, creating momentum, before slashing across their chests, making sure they died.

Three more charged, I parried the first and dodged the second. Red blocked the third attack and pushed the soldier back before attacking repeatedly, not giving him room for offense. I crouched down and spun my blade, hitting one in the ankles causing him to cry out and collapse. I barely dodged the attack from the other one before I took out my knife and blocked slash with my sword and stabbed him with my knife.

I quickly took out the one on the ground before turning to see Red just finishing off his man with a stab to the heart. He backed up to me once again and we stood, swords ready. "I don't know how much longer just you and I can do this" Red said in between breaths. "Don't worry, we won't have to" I said.

Two Charizards landed right in front of us, crushing three soldiers. "PikaPi!" I heard come from the crowd before Pikachu burst from the fighting and kept before, turning to face the enemy I saw Garchomp flying through the air, scorching all that stood against him. I smirked "Alright Red, let's finish this", he nodded in response.

"Pikachu, use thunderbolt!"

Well? how about the new name? I think this one is more along the lines of revenge than the other one. Also, I went back through the chapter and bolded the attacks that anyone calls out. but that's only is the say it, if the think it or talk about it then I won't bold it. But anyway, I'm typing this in Cancun, Mexico right now. My friend invited me. I experienced food poisoning for the first time yesterday. On the bright side I stayed in bed all day and got to type the story for you guys. But I digress, suggestions, questions, requests, hate, and anything else is always welcomed. Just review or PM me. Either one works. So, till next time

-novaking2832