Seriously? He said something. It's wasn't even that big of a deal, I finished the chapter, I had days off of work while I was in the hospital, no one needed to know. I'm kind of angry now, posting that is like a "give sympathy towards this writer please" sign. It makes me feel like I'm asking for attention and pity, hence why I wasn't going to say anything. Whatever, I'm fine now. The only thing I have to complain about is they didn't put me to sleep when they started to dig around my chest for the pieces of glass I missed. They gave me anesthetics though, so I didn't feel a thing. I just saw everything, including what my muscles look like. That made me quite uncomfortable to say the least. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, I thought it was going to be around 9,000 words but with that little addition at the beginning it became 10,000. Point is, we're getting closer to the end, the next chapter is the last one, then maybe an epilogue. People will probably want one with the way I'm ending it.

AdvanceLover: Thanks, I appreciate the kind words. Oh man, that feels weird, being called John. Looks like it something I'll have to get used to though, and his name is Isaac.

Mr J: Ah awkwardness, for some reason I enjoy making those awkward situations where everyone pauses to take in what just happened. Thanks, I was only in for a few days, it was nothing big. Either one works.

Sailor Taichichi Vegeta: What my mother don't know, won't hurt her. Even though she'll see it whenever it is I see her again. Yeah, I can see how that came out to be hero worship, I just meant for it to be a way to introduce the Magma Core mentality. Believe it or not, I just asked my friend's brother and sister for these stories. It is, the whole concept of weight training is that you get so used to walking around slower than normal, that your body picks up the pace of your speed so you walk at your normal pace with weights on. So when you take the weights off, you're much faster than usual. But most people just put on the weights when they're running and take them off afterwards.

Chapter 30: The Journey to the End

-Ash's POV-

"Sceptile, check. Aggron, check. Infernape, check. Torterra, check. Tyranitar, check. Greninja, check. Lapras, No. Pidgeot, check, and that's everyone I could get within the restraints of time" I said to no one.

"Pikachu pika pika?"

"Well, why not? Leaving them at the entrance of these tunnels is the best idea. We can move faster and we're already a step ahead of everyone" I told my partner. He just shrugged before scratching himself. "Charizard, Garchomp. Both of you stay here, we'll walk the rest of the way" I told them, earning a nod from Garchomp and a grunt from Charizard.

I looked in the direction of Pedalburg. About four hours by foot, probably seven with an entire army in tow. 'Let's cut that four into two' I thought with a grin. I began my steady jog towards the city. What? I can't run for two hours, much less sprint. A jog is easily maintainable, and although I'll be tired by the end of this journey, I'll have gotten a good workout in, and decreased my travel time by fifty percent.

It felt like a day, but I finally saw the tower in the distance, illuminated by a few lights that glimmered through the windows. The castle was close, and so was May, and so was punishment... and so was Dawn

...

...

...

Fuck me. Honestly why does it always have to be me? It's almost unfair. My previous vigor and excitement vanished, but without even realizing it, I was at the gates.

I took a deep breath earning a curious look from Pikachu who was wondering why we hadn't entered yet

'You can do this Ketchum, you're a mercenary for fuck's sake you should not be afraid of a princess who doesn't even know how to hold a knife'. After my little pep talk I strode confidently through the gates. Looking around for a familiar face. Unlikely, it was around three in the morning.

"There you are, I was beginning to think you weren't going to show" Riley said while leaning against the castle wall.

"When have I ever backed down from a fight?" I asked him

"True, you never have. But you have never gone to war, and that's exactly what this is" Riley said, his tone adopting a certain seriousness that made him seem, well, like he wasn't Riley. "Too many people doubt me" I muttered while passing him, heading towards the meeting room.

I pushed the door open and walked in, followed by Riley and stood at the table. Green, Blue, Archie, Lance, Aaron, and the King were all here. The only people missing were Ruby and Sapphire. But it was still early, they weren't late, just not early.

My train of thought was cut short however when both of them walked in. "Even though it's a little relier then planned, let's start this meeting. Green, could you please explain the plan" Norman said

Green nodded before turning to the map on the table "As I said before we are exiting just outside of Saffron. When we do, we will split up into cohorts, three platoons each and two platoons of Pokemon, one with all Pokemon that can fly, the other with grounded Pokemon. That leaves us with fifteen platoons and then five more for backup and extraction, one being a platoon of Pokemon. Sapphire will command one, Blue will command one, and I will command one"

I will take my cohort and begin to assault the western walls while Blue's cohort exterminate any forces that come out of the city walls using archers and Pokemon. You will only be able to hold them back for so long before you must engage them on the ground. That's where Sapphire's cohort come in. You are charged with protecting Blue's cohort, which will be composed of all archers, from the forces that escape their rain of arrows. We'll use the heaven's shield system" he said

The heaven's shield system was a strategy that was composed of a two step process. They archers would fire barrages of arrows, or at their own pace depending on the leader's orders, and they'd have their "shield" with them. Their "shield" was a ground soldier usually equipped with a sword and some knives that had a shield. Their job was to raise their shield and protect the archer and themselves from incoming enemy archer fire. If ground soldiers reach the archers location, they engage the ground troops and the archers retreat from the enemy's firing range and supports the friendly ground soldiers. Once they enemy ground troops have been exterminated, the formation returns to normal, assuming that the eery ground troops were, in fact, defeated. It received the name from its creator who said "That shield is what preventing the from joining Arceus, hence the heaven's shield system"

This meant that Sapphire's cohort was going to be comprised of all ground troops and with some flying type Pokemon and grounded Pokemon.

"Ruby, you'll be in charge of the stealth aspect of this attack. I expect you to breach the city walls and sabotage anything you can, be it blowing up the armory, destroying the barracks, or causing a diversion to distract some of the forces going out of the city gates" Green said, earning a nod from Ruby. Most would think that would be an easy job, but in reality, it was the hardest. If they were cornered, they would be annihilated. Sapphire's cohort has the easiest and safest job (not including those at the underground entrance). They were on defense until the enemy manages to climb over the pile of bodies Blue's archers will be creating.

"The Aura Guardians will be our trump card here. We are going to use them the second my cohort blows a big enough hole in the wall" Green said '

"What will the resistance be doing?" Lance asked

Green and King Norman glanced at each other "We're holding you back for most of this, if not all. Your job is the after effect. You're supposed to set up the new government and, if possible, quell the Kanto soldiers that will come from all around the world for a counter attack. If you can convince even one garrison join us or even go neutral, it will cut down on the bloodshed a lot" Green said

Lance frowned, as if he wasn't happy with the resistance's role in this affair. If that's all, then let's get the sup pies on wagons and get all the soldiers ready to move. They'll have plenty of time to sleep while we're in the tunnels" Green said

Everyone began to filter out but I grabbed Green on the shoulder "What's my job?" I asked him. He looked at me for a second "You can ask Lance that, you may join one of the cohorts, help Ruby, do what you'd like really. So long as you get Lance's approval I have no complaints" he said

I nodded and jogged to catch up to Lance

"Lance!" I called out to him, jogging up before slowing to a walk next to him "What do you want me to do?" I asked him. He brought a finger to his chin for a moment "Ideally, I'd like you to waltz into the castle and stab Giovanni through the throat. But, since that isn't possible, I'd like you to help blow the hole in the city wall and help Blue's archers if soldiers start to swarm Sapphire's cohort" he said with a frown

"Are you unhappy with your role?" I asked him

"Very"

"Why is that?"

"Because we have no right to set up a new government if we didn't even participate in getting the old one overthrown" he said

I shook my head "Your a man of too many ideals. This is a time for taking advantage of a situation when you can, not being a man of integrity. Honor carried little weight in this day and age" I said to him

"You may be right, but I would like to change that mentality" he said

"Good luck with that" I said as I peeled off and walked down a different hallway, heading towards the dreaded destination.

I took a deep breath as I slowly opened May's door, flinching at the groan it made. I slipped inside and closed the door behind me, turning to face May. Fortunately for me, she was sleeping peacefully, Eevee resting comfortably in her arms. I breathed a sigh of relief before looking around and grabbing the shirt I had left here last time. I opened the door once again and slipped out.

I closed the door and turned to walk down the hallway, heading to get some breakfast. I grabbed the usual, some bread, an apple, and a glass of water, before climbing up to my spot on the roof, laying down and enjoying the sight of the sun just cresting over the horizon while chewing on my apple, feeding bits and pieces to Pikachu.

It didn't seem like all that long ago when I was up here trying to figure out what that mysterious roar was. Then not long later, sinking Hunter J's own blade into her throat, slowly, very, very slowly. I was too tired to enjoy my revenge then, but afterwards I celebrated by myself. All I did was sleep in, I was never one to celebrate things being as I've never had anything to celebrate.

I don't know how much time had passed but it felt like the world was on fast forward because suddenly the sun was shining high in the sky. I blinked, did I fall asleep? or was I just extremely zoned out? I shook my head, before concluding that I fell asleep. Pikachu was gone and I defiantly would've noticed him leave even if I was zoned out.

I climbed my way down to the ground and walked around, trying to kill time before we started moving out. I decided to find the resistance, they always managed to entertain me. It took me a while, they hadn't been int their rooms, they hadn't been training, they hadn't been in the city (I asked the guards if they had been that way), but I found in the first place I should've checked, the mess hall.

They we're all eating and chatting as usual, surprisingly, Ruby was with them. And even more surprisingly, he was happily talking with Yellow. He seemed to be getting an evil eye from Red though, not that he seemed to care (and I'm sure he noticed it). "Hey Ruby" I said, sitting in the open seat next to him.

"Hey, look who's back!" Black said with a grin. I gave him a small smile and nodded "Yeah, so fill me in. What did I miss?"

"We celebrated a little"

"Ruby and Sapphire fought"

"We trained a lot"

"I got raped"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"He's joking right?" I asked Yellow, knowing she'd tell me the truth. She fidgeted a little, but before she could respond, Red answered for her "Crystal tied Gold to a bed before, and I quote "fucked" Gold" he said.

"Saw that coming a mile away" I muttered

"And how, pray tell, did you see that coming" Silver asked with a raised eyebrow

"Are you kidding me? The sexual tension between the two was strong enough to make me choke. Not to mention someone as tense and stressed as Crystal would probably go crazy at the first opportunity. I'm assuming this happened the night before I left, when she was drunk right? Well there's your opportunity, and she took it in stride" I said

"And when did you become an expert on this?" White asked

"Have you ever been in the same room with Ruby and Sapphire? It's even worse than those two's" I said while pointing at Gold and Crystal "Once you experience one of their arguments, everything becomes clear as day"

"Yeah, 'cause you're one to talk" Ruby said with a smirk. I sent him a glare, only succeeding in widening his smirk

"Whatever, you guys know what you're jobs are?" I asked everybody, they all shook their heads. I wasn't surprised, Lance would probably call them all together and tell them. "Well you're going to find out pretty soon. I'm not sure if you'll like or dislike the job, but in retrospect, it's a good one" I said

"Ash"

Mercy have pity on me and grace me with your kindness

"I think you forgot to tell me something before you left" May said sweetly

"Oh uhhhhh, well I just needed to get all my Pokemon together and do you know where Pikachu is?" I said, attempting to change the subject. "Pikachu? He's with Eevee, having some fun. But that was one sorry ass attempt at a topic change" she said with that eerily happy voice while slowly wrapping her arms around my neck, a little too slowly. "I have no idea what you're talking about" I said, keeping my voice level

I felt her arms begin to tighten around my neck, slowly becoming more and more uncomfortable. "May? Can you let go? You're starting to choke me" I asked

"Am I? I'm sorry, I was trying to really choke you" she said before tightening her grip. I grunted at the force, but refused to give way. "Can you let go already? It's not working" I said through a strained voice

"Are you going to apologize?"

"If you let go, I might" I said

"Fine" she said reluctantly, releasing my neck from her (poorly formed) strange hold. I turned around, facing her for the first time. she was dressed in a regular short sleeved shirt and a skirt that covered just above her knees, oddly common clothing for a princess to be wearing "I guess I'm sorry or something along those lines" I muttered quietly, but a real smile broke out on her face when she heard me. "Apology accepted, or something along those lines" she teased

I rolled my and turned back to the table, which had been going about their business, not really taking interest in our little conversation (thank Arceus for that). But May grabbed my shoulder before I had completed my turn "Ah ah ahhh" she tutted "You're coming with me" she said, reinforcing her demand with a tug on my shoulder. I let her pull me up and walk out of the mess hall with her, giving a wave to everyone before I left

"Oh so you say goodbye to them, but not to me?" she said in a pouting voice.

"You were asleep, even if I did wake you, you probably wouldn't have understood what I meant" I said

"That's not true, I would've gotten the message"

"Really? Because every time I had to wake you up to get moving on our journey here you'd mumble about how you were in prison and didn't have to be woken up. You still thought you were in the castle" I exclaimed

"Well it did feel like a dream. There I was, getting rescued by my knight in shining armor, it felt too unreal after all those years of being locked up" she said

"Well when you put it like that..." I said

She smiled and latched onto my arm "I'm just happy to be with you" she said quietly

I felt my face heat up. How could she say those things with so much emotion in them. She looked at me and grinned "Am I embarrassing you?" she said teasingly. I pulled my hat over to cover my face "A little" I muttered under my breath, but she heard me.

"Awwww, is the big bad mercenary embarrassed to have a girl on his arm" she said with a face that obviously showed contained laughter. Oh she is going to pay for that one "Not at all really, I've had plenty of women on my arm" I said with a cocky smirk

She pouted "That was mean"

"You earned it for trying to embarrass me" I said, feeling not guilt or remorse.

"I'm sorwy" she said in a baby voice. "You'll earn no sympathy from me" I said, looking down at her

"Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?" she asked in a sweet voice

I brought my free hand to my chin in thought "I don't know, I pulled an all nighted last and I was grumpy this morning, it's been a pretty bad day all around" I said. Suddenly, I felt her lips on my cheek and I froze. "Will that do it?" she asked

I smiled "Yeah, that about did it"

She smiled back at me before pushing open the door to her room and walking in. I followed her inside and closed the door behind me. "Sit down, I have a surprise for you" she said in a sing song voice. I eased myself into a chair that was placed on a square table, capable over seating four, one on each side. She returned a moment later from a room connecting to hers (not Dawn's) with a tray.

She set it down on the table and gave me a fork "Well? Eat up" she said with a smile

"Pie" I said lamely "And why do you have a pie?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged "I wanted to surprise you when you got back, so I made this"

"A.) how did you know when I would get back and B.) I doubt you made this pie" I said

"I knew you were coming back today because Daddy was talking about some plans with the new guy (she probably means Lance) and I heard Lance say that you should be back the day before whatever they were talking about. And I did make this pie, thank you very much" she said, ending with a "humph" and a turn of her head away from me

"Alright, alright. No need to get mad" I said before taking a bite. I sighed, causing her to crack and eye open and look at me. "What? Is it bad?" she asked.

"No, it's very good. Which only confirms my suspicion that you did not make it" I said, setting the fork down. "What are you taking about, of course I made it!" she yelled. I raised an eyebrow and at red her down. She fidgeted for a moment, not meeting my eyes "Ugh, fine! The kitchen staff made it" she said

I chuckled "Now what was the use in lying about something so small?" I said, standing up from the table. She wrung her hands around nervously, like a child who had been caught stealing food at night "I just wanted to impress you a little" she mumbled

"There are other ways to impress me. Cooking is not something I am particularly impressed about. A woman of action is one that I admire and-" I was cut off by her lips pressing against mine.

She pulled back, a smirk on her face "how was that for action?" she said. I returned her smirk with one of my own "Impressive" was all I said before reconnecting my lips with hers.

-May's POV-

His lips tasted like home. I'm not kidding you, when he finally pressed his lips against mine, it was like I couldn't get enough of him. And that's how I ended pressed up against a wall, arms wrapped around his neck, kissing him frantically, like he was my lifeline. I felt alive when I kissed him and suddenly, it was like I didn't need oxygen.

He broke contact with my lips and began a trail of kisses down my neck, nibbling and sucking here and there, no doubt leaving marks. I felt a moan rising in my throat, but I fought it back, not wanting to give him the knowledge of what he does to me.

He moved back up my neck to my jaw before reconnecting our lips once more and in a surprising boost of courage, I wrapped my legs around his waist. He teased me by tracing the edged of my shirt, and then again by the hem of my skirt. I desperatly wanted him to do more. Gaining a little more courage, I slowly moved my hand under his shirt and when my palm finally brushed his skin, it felt electric.

Then his hands receded from me an he stepped back, putting me down. I had taken his hands for granted, and now that they were gone, I wanted them back. "You stopped" I pouted, if you think that's slutty well fuck you, you never felt his perfect hands before.

He grinned and pecked me on the lips "We got time" he whispered before stepping back again and walking towards the door, pausing before he left "Besides, I wouldn't want anyone coming in and seeing me attacking you like a starved Snorlax does to an all you an eat buffet, and trust me, I was getting to that point" he said before leaving

I frowned at the closed door, he just left me hot and bothered. I'm going to get him for that. Besides, I wouldn't care if my dad came in and saw, he was bound to find out sooner or later. I looked outside my window I looked around for clock, it was seventeen past one. Had that much time really passed? It felt like it was only four seconds.

Time flies when you're... you know.

I sighed to myself before smoothing out the creases in my clothes and fixing myself up from my rather disheveled appearance. 'Oh, well. I'll hang out with Dawn for a while. I haven't seen her around too much as of late' I thought to myself before walking out the door towards her room.

-Ruby POV-

It was nighttime, a little under an hour away until we left to go into the tunnels, just one hour till we began our journey. I wasn't nervous, I was actually looking forward to this. This was our chance, this was our opportunity to redeem ourselves.

I was spinning my knife in my hand restlessly, an unconscious habit I had developed. I took and deep breath and tried to calm myself, to no avail. Sighing to myself, I stood up, sheathed my knife, and decided to take a walk.

I walked through the city, a place I haven't been in the entire time I've been back. I figured I may not see it again, so why not try to remember the place I'm fighting for? I walked through the districts, some people were out celebrating some occasion, maybe a wedding. It looked like it was a bachelor party of some sorts.

Aside from the loud cheers coming from that one specific building, everyone was sleeping peacefully. All lights were out except for a few that glimmered through some closed blinds and some open windows. I saw a little girl, no older than four reading a children's book, there was an elderly couple sharing a pot of tea while discussing some with fond smiles on their faces. There was a married couple reading a book together, the wife in the husband's lap, leaning back against his chest.

These are the people I fought for. This was my reason to fight. I paused at a large intersection where the market keepers set up there stands. It was and eight way intersection with a fountain in the middle and multiple benches.

I found myself a comfortable seat on one and sat for a little, listening to the gentle breeze whistle in my ears. I frowned for a moment, what the hell was I doing here? I stood back up and began a steady jog back to the castle, a little mad at myself for going off when we were so close to leaving.

I ended up breaking into a run and passed back into the castle walls. Barely breathing irregularly, I looked around at the assembled soldiers. They were all tying their armor and weapons to the packs, some were writing letters that they put in the inside of their uniforms.

I walked back to my things, I had my bow packed, my sword strapped to the side, a flint for fire arrows, rations, clothing, a sharpener, two quiver of arrows, and my extra belt (it went across my chest for throwing knives).

I double checked, triple checked, and quadruple checked everything, going over everything in my head over and over again. After determining that I was set to go, I walked around to all the others soldiers, making sure they were prepared and not pissing their pants already. All of them had been informed of their task and the odds of survival. The situation was grim, but the mention of Aura Guardians was a moral booster

I found my way to Ash, who sat cross legged on the ground picking stray blades of grass off the dirt training ground along with Pikachu who was on his back, staring blankly off into the night sky. They looked bored out of their minds "You ready to go?" I asked him. He looked up and nodded, tossing the clump of grass he had in his hand to the ground. "Where's all your things?" I asked

"Their already at the tunnel, my Pokemon are there too" he said, resting his chin in his hand "Aren't we suppose to leave now?" he asked in an irritated voice, a scowl present on his face. I nodded "Yeah, we're going to leave as soon as Sir Aaron and Riley come to get us" I said.

"You know he's Sir Riley too right?" he told me

"Yeah, but after calling him Riley for so long, it's hard to start addressing him and "Sir" Riley" I said "Besides, you never call him that either"

He shrugged "Yeah, but I never have to be formal when I talk about someone's name. If I was talking to the king, I'd call Aaron, Aaron. No need for a "sir" in there" he said

"Fair enough I guess, but, do you want to go find them?" I asked him. He shook his head "No, there should be coming around in a couple of seconds" he said

I looked towards the castle doors, and sure enough, the two Aura Guardians walked out, accompanied by their Lucarios. They marched in front of the group, having everyone's attention even before they started talking. Sir Aaron leaned down and asked Green and inaudible question, to which Green resounded with a nod.

"Alright everyone, if you're all ready, let's begin our trek" Sir Aaron said in an authoritative voice.

Their was a collective lurch as everyone got up and draped their packs over their shoulders, causing loud clanging and shuffling noises to emanate for a moment. Ash and I quickly made our way up to the front of the group to join Lance, Green, Riley, Blue, Sir Aaron, and Sapphire (Archie is in charge of the military in the case of no one making it back).

"Your highness! What are you doing here?!" Green exclaimed at the appearance of King Norman standing fully dressed for battle. He grinned at us "Did you honestly think that I'm the kind of man to send his soldiers to a very unlikely victory and not go himself?" he asked

"It doesn't matter, you are royalty and I implore you to go back to the castle" Green said. But Norman shook his head "I'm going and that's the end of it. Not another word about it from any of you, that's and order" he said

"But your highness-"

"Not another word" Norman interrupted

Green was effectively silenced, but he did not look pleased with the matter at all. "Now lets get going, we got a king to kill" he said with a grin

Jesus Christ, my chest looks like I stood next to an explosion of shrapnel. The doc said there'd be scaring but this is ridiculous. I can never to the beach again. Whoever said "scars add character" was a moron because it looks like Wolverine went to town on my left arm and chest. Ugh, whatever, at least I'm out of that godamn hospital. The smell of my own blood was beginning to annoy me. I am a little sad that I had to leave my roommate, he and I got along famously. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, next one will be the last (besides the epilogue which I have already started). So, look forward to the conclusion of this whole story. Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I can't really take and suggestions, requests, but you can still insult me or my work if you'd like. Point is, the end is near. So, till next time

-novaking2832