Hi everyone, I'm back with another chapter! Not only that, I've manage to update this story a few days after same day I posted it two years ago! Meh, it's been two years and I'm still not done :/. Oh well enjoy the chapter, I made it rather long. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon

Ages: I don't really care anymore, Ash and Iris are somewhere between 14 and 16

Chapter 14: Saving a Princess

"With all these lights and equipment, it makes me wonder how much money is spent on Princess Festival Day pageants," Ash said to himself. It was five minutes before the final round of the Princess of Unova pageant and after bumping into the annoyance known as Misty, the raven haired teen had just entered the stadium just before the doors were closing. As expected he was shell-shocked by the drastic change the area had undergone during the past few hours.

The large open space where everyone had watched the slime event from round 1 and the spectacular battles from round 2 had been transformed into a giant catwalk. The pathway was adorned with blinding lights and the surface was midnight black with sparkly pattern making it look like stars in a night sky. The front and the back of the runway were nothing more than flat surfaces and that stretched out in each direction to form a stage, the place where the competitors were probably going to show off how beautiful and talented they were. The judges table was also near the front of the runway, Skyla seemed to be absorbed in all the bright and fantastic décor, but still managed to briefly stop and take pictures and sign things for the fans that flocked around the judges table with nothing but a few body guards and safety rope to hold them back. Roxie ignored the crowd and played it cool with her feet propped up onto the table as she lounged in her chair with her hands behind her head. But because of the amused smirk on her freckle spotted face, it was clear to see that the punk rocker was enjoying the way her fans screamed her name with the utter most enthusiasm. Elesa, well she looked like the complete opposite of the lil' miss sunshine she had been during rounds one and two. She wore a new designer outfit, despite the fact that neither of the other two gym leaders bothered to change clothes, but didn't seemed to be so pleased with people snapping picture of her in it. It was probably due to the fact that her normally yellow hair now looked….neon green. The electric type gym leader seemed to be attempting to hide it under the large sun hat she wore on her head, but it didn't seem to be working very well.

"Come on you two," Ash said to Axew and Pikachu who sat on his shoulder. "We better find a seat, the show's about to start."

"Pika pi chu?" Pikachu gave a questing look as he made motions with his hands.

"Oh, you're right, those two girl's haven't seemed to gotten back from shopping," Ash muttered, remembering the girl in pink and her friend in green said they were going for some last minute shopping at the Stration Mall of Wonders. Shrugging Ash decided not to let it bug him. "Well, I wasn't going to say no to girls shopping of Princess Festival day."

"Axew ax ax ew!" Axew added point at the stage.

"Don't worry this pageant thing is airing all over Unova and then some. I'm sure those two girls will be able to watch Iris's performance somewhere." Ash reassured the dragon type. "With the way they were cheering her one, I doubt they'd miss it for the world! Besides...after not seeing Iris for a while, I knida wanna see what she was able to come up with for her performance all on her own."

"Well, I'm sure she's gonna wow us!" A voice suddenly said. Turning Ash saw the owner of the voice belonged to a girl about his age, wearing black a shirt that read volunteer in pink bold letters on the front and back. "But it seems like you won't be able to do so without having a seat. The show's going to start soon; do you need help finding a place to sit?"

Ash smiled, at least all the girls on Princess Festival day weren't rude. "Um, yeah it be great if-"

"Oh, I see you have silver tickets," She exclaimed. Without further explanation she grabbed Ash by the arm and quickly led him towards the back of the stadium. "Since you won tickets, you have to sit with all the other trainers who won tickets as well." She gestured towards a nearby door. "The rest of them are sitting up there, be sure and hurry the shows gonna start soon! And make sure to vote for that girlfriend was yours."

Ash blushed, "Huh?! Oh…um…yeah." Leaving the girl to giggle at his red face Ash quickly headed for the door and started up the stairs that was before him. Even he couldn't deny that he loved Iris, the whole city of Stration, hell the whole region of Unova could be aware that the first place contestant in the pageant was dating him. Girls and their stupid attraction to social media, it was sure to be the death of him!

"Tickets please," At the top of the stairs stood another girl wearing the same black shirt with the words volunteer printed in bold pink letters. She held her hand out and when Ash didn't respond during the half second the words left her mouth she heaved and annoyed sigh. "If you have silver tickets to vote hand 'em over."

Ash fought against the urge to groan in disgust at this girl's attitude, it was just as black and menacing as her black hair that was styled in two twin buns on each side of her head. Holding out the three silver tickets he had won during intermission, Ash didn't even get the chance to ask why before they were snatched from his grasp and the girl rudely started to speak. "We're taking up tickets at the door of this VIP section to make sure the tickets are real and no dumbasses try to sneak in." She scowled in distaste as she smoothed out one of the slightly crumped tickets, muttered something under her breath about disorganized boys, before taking all three and placing them into a small black box. "You can head in."

"But what about my tickets?" Ash asked, the girl had just put them in the box without any intention of giving them back. "How am I supposed to vote without them?"

Another groan of irritation escaped the girl. "You were supposed to use your tickets to vote, but they made a last minute change because of security purposes. If you haven't heard someone snuck into that sappy supermodel's dressing room who decided to have major freak out over a stupid wardrobe malfunction, that wasted so much time that we have to start round three late." She bent over; reached into another box and removed a small pink square shaped device that had three sparkly buttons. "Here, you and the other voters will watch all three performances from up here and then you'll vote using this. It'll tally up the points for each participant and then show their score on the big screen like for rounds one and two, after that they'll crown this year's Princess of Unova and I'll finally be able to grab that dress I've been eyeing all day, once that-" the girl stop short and blinked, as if realizing something. Narrowing her eyes she shoved the pink device in Ash's hands and waved him to go into the room.

"Well that was strange," Ash muttered entering the room.

The area where he and the rest of the ticket owners were provide with was comfortably space-ish with rows of comfy looking chairs with most of them already occupied by various females who were chatting amongst themselves. Out of everyone in the room there were four males, not including Ash, three of them sat on the ends of the rows since it was the farthest away they could get from the gaggle of girl that clumped in the middle. Ash tried to find a seat that was far enough away from the girls like the rest of the guys did while at the same time still gave him the luxury of viewing the large open area that overlooked the perfect view of the stage below. But is seemed like karma still wasn't on his side today because the only vacant seat available was the one near the front by the loudest girl in the room.

Granted she was pretty blond but she was wearing way too much makeup and her excessive amount of perfume was suffocating. Never the less Ash forced a smile on his face and approached her. "Hey, sorry to interrupt your conversation." He started, gaining the girl attention from her group of friends she was facing. "But I was wondering if this seat was-"

"Sorry, this seat is, like, taken." She said with a voice that embodied every high school cheerleader on the face of the planet.

Ash glanced down at the seat. The empty seat. He tried hard not to look irked, but after all the crap he had to put up with today he was at his wits end. With a straining voice Ash tried again. "Um, but no one's-"

"For the love of Arceus, I said this seat was taken!" The blonde snapped. Before Ash could retaliate the girl reached out towards one of the girl she was previously speaking who then placed a Lilpup, pampered head to toe, in her awaiting arms. She then turned and placed the small dog like Pokémon in the seat beside her. "Pepper's sitting here."

Ash mentally screamed! He couldn't take any more of this bullshit behavior from theses females! In all honesty he was a second away from ordering Pikachu to Thunderbolt the living daylights out of that Lilpup when a voice spoke up. "Aw, come babe. Let the dude have the seat." It was the fourth male in the room who had been hidden from sight from behind the blonde girl's pile of boxes and bags he more than likely had to lug around all day long. Ash stared at the guy for a moment; he looked vaguely familiar with his blue hair that was streaked with black highlights standing out against his pale skin and his nose ring and ear gages only adding to the contrast. It took him a moment before it all clicked and Ash realized that this was the same dude from the movie theater when he and Iris went to go see Wonder Launchers 3 that morning! Looked like he found a girl to be his princess, too bad she was spoiled one.

The blond girl gasped in shock and stared wide eyed at the teen. "And where do you propose Pepper should sit?!"

"I don't know, your lap…or on the floor where it belongs." He muttered halfheartedly.

Well that single comment blew a simple problem way out of proportion. The blond girl started shouting about how Pepper's manicured nails could ruin the dress she was wearing, how the floor was covered in germs, this, that and every Arceus damn thing under the sun she complained about in her annoying preppy voice! In the end Ash decided it be best slip out of the room as quick as possible, hell he rather watch the rest of the Princess of Unova Pageant standing than have to deal with that.

"And this just adds another reason to why I hate Princess Festival day." Ash mumbled as he closed the door of the VIP room behind him, muffling the noises inside. "Come on you two, we'll just ask one of those volunteer girls if we could have a seat down there with everyone else." The raven haired male made his way down the steps and was about to head out towards where the rest of the spectators were seated when something arrested his attention.

"…are you positive?" The words trickled out from behind a suspiciously darkened area, luring Ash to sneak up closer and press himself up against the nearby wall.

"Yes, of course, I swear!" A frantic voice said. Peeking around the corner, Ash was startled to see that it was the girl with black hair that took his tickets at the VIP door. From this angle he couldn't quiet see who she was speaking to, but the way her pissy attitude had vanished from her tone gave Ash a reason to believe that it was someone of higher authority. "Everything was done just as you ordered, Princess Misty."

A chill rushed up Ash's spine at the unfitting title that was given to the red headed teen. A small chuckle of satisfaction filtered through the air as an icy cold voice responded. "Excellent. You did a wonderful job, Taylor."

Taylor? Wasn't that the same girl Iris had beaten in round two of the pageant? Ash narrowed his eyes, seeing that the girl was still following Misty around like mindless minion.

"So…um, now that I-I've done my part," Taylor stammered nervously, looking down at her shoes, "do I get my reward?"

"Oh, you mean that strawberry red dress you were eyeing at the mall early today. The one you were willing to help me out for?" Misty questioned in taunting tone. Ash saw Taylor nod her head eagerly, causing him to grimace seeing to how a probably nice girl would stoop to such a low level for a dress. Ash saw Misty's pale hand reach out and pat Taylor's head like an owner would do to praise a Pokemon. "Well, I'd just love to give you that dress you so desperately wanted," Ash could just image the smirk of pleasure on Misty's lips as Taylor's face fell in disappointment. "But after thinking it through, I came to the conclusion that, I should keep it."

"B-But you said you'd give it to me if I stuck with you throughout the pageant!" Taylor stammered.

"Tch, you made the deal so quickly you never let me ask if I could change my mind about actually letting you have it in the first place." Ash could hear Taylor tumble over her words for a response but Misty continued. "Besides, that lovely dress will look so much better on moi since I could wear it more than once without outgrowing it within a few weeks, like you would, Taylor."

"What do you mean?" Taylor sounded genuinely confused but the red head she so loyally severed only gave a menacing chuckle.

"Oh, there's no need to hide any secrets."

"What secrets? I have none!"

"Oh, I beg to differ. Especially since I got a bit of intel on your weight problem." At this Taylor fell silent and Misty scoffed. "As soon as Princess Festival Day is over, you'll go right back to your old repulsive self within a week or two and that wonderful dress would have been given away for nothing!"

"Princess Misty…how could you s-say such a thing after I-I helped you out all d-day?" The tone Taylor used sounded hurt and bewildered. "Aren't we…friends?"

"Friends?" Misty repeated the word slowly, as if the word was new to her. "Now corrected me if I'm wrong but, the word friend is commonly used to describe people that enjoy spending time with one another and care deeply for one another."

"Well, yeah and-"

"However, there's this one small thing that missing between the relationship you and I have, Taylor. And that just so happens to be the enjoyment and the fact that I don't really care about you." The sound of Taylor's soft gasp reached Ash's ears and it made his heart clench, how could Misty be so cruel? "To be frank, I 'befriended' you for a short period of time but now that time allotment is over with so, we're done." Misty started to walk away from the girl she had spoken to. The clicking of her shoes causing Ash to freeze in his place in fear of getting caught by Misty and her brutal wrath she would unleash on him if she even suspected he was eavesdropping, thankfully though the red head was stopped before she could draw close to the raven haired teen's hiding spot.

"You can't do this me!" Peeking from around the corner Ash saw Taylor fearlessly march up to her ex leader and grab her harshly by the shoulder. "I did everything you said and now it's time for you to pay up! So hand over that dress!"

"Oh what?" Misty mused, scowling at the girl.

"I'll tell everyone about how you've been cheating throughout the entire pageant!" Taylor shot back, a smirk of satisfaction slowly making its way on her lips.

Misty seemed unfazed by the threat and titled her head to the side as she said. 'Oh, I don't think you want to do that, not while I have an abundance of obedient and loyal followers with their phones containing pictures of your previous self."

Ash could see Taylor stiffen. "Y-You're bluffing."

"Am I?" Misty then pulled out her own cellphone and after a few taps on the screen she showed, what Ash could only assume to be, images of something mortifying for Taylor. So much so that she gave a small yelp of shock and her face paled. Plucking Taylor's hand from where it was on her shoulder Misty flashed a smug look as she finished with a tone laced with poison. "Now, if you even breathe a word about how I so skillfully advance through the rounds in the pageant today, these pictures of little miss fatty are going to be all over social media before you can even go drown your sorrows in a gallon tub of ice cream. Do I make myself clear?"

There was nothing more Taylor could say, so she remained silent, her eyes downcast. Seeing that she had once again gotten her way, a smile of victory molded onto Misty's face, then without another word she turned on her heel and made her way towards the exit. The red head had her nose so high up in the air, that she didn't even notice the raven haired teen hidden in the shadows. Ash waited until the sound of the door, leading out of this enclosed area, had been long closed before making his way from his hiding place. Turning the corner Ash stared at the girl Misty had just verbally assaulted. Taylor remained in her previous place, with her arms limp at her sides and her head lowered but with the addition of tears visibly running down her cheeks. The sight made Ash's heart ache, the girl reminded him of the one he loved when Misty had done the same thing to her in the Stration Café, leaving her helpless and humiliated.

"Misty, she can be a real bitch, can't she?" Ash said this as he slowly approached Taylor.

Upon hearing his voice, the girl with twin buns jerked her head up and quickly wiped her face. "What n-no! I-I mean aren't y-you supposed to be up i-in the VIP room with-"

"There's no need to shoo me away. I know more about Misty that I'd like to." Ash informed her with a sympathetic grin.

"So I'm guessing you heard all that?" Taylor mumbled. Ash answered with a nod and Taylor sighed as she whipped her dripping nose. "And to think that I thought that today would be the day I'd finally fit in with everyone else." With this statement said Taylor quickly went over to how she met the red head demon.

It had been this morning at the Stration Mall of Wonders while she was shopping, that when she ran into Misty and the last strawberry red dress she had been hunting down all morning. Misty had made an attempt to sass the girl out of giving her the dress but the red head was in for a shock when Taylor wouldn't budge. Misty must have seen something in Taylor's determinate attitude and offered her the dress in exchange for something that she promised would make the dress look like a filthy rag. A group of friends and the best Princess Festival Day of her life. The deal was something Taylor didn't have to think twice about, the girl had never had a lot of friends due to her being rather big boned and the teasing she had endured for so long. And even though she had lost a majority of the weight Taylor still liked to indulge once and a while and built up a rude and snapping attitude whenever someone said otherwise about it or made comments or weird faces whenever she ate. This side of herself was something she still held onto, it was the only way Taylor knew of protecting herself. However, this side wasn't shown when Misty accepted her into her group of fangirls. In fact Taylor admitted she had the time of her life hanging out with Misty and was stunned with surprise when the red head picked her and a few other of her fangirls to participate in the Princess of Unova Pageant, claiming that "win or lose, we'll still be besties!". Taylor had clung to those words like a lifeline and even after she was beaten by Iris in round two, Misty had presented her with a smile and brought up the red dress again, saying that it be hers if she 'assisted' the red head with winning the pageant. Taylor once again agreed blindly completely oblivious to the shattering moment when Misty personally booted her out of the group that had gifted her with the short lived the pleasure of friendship.

"After round two Misty gave me some neon green hair dye and told me to sneak into Elesa's dressing room and dump it into her hair products." Taylor admitted. "With the help of Skitty distracting the guards, I was able to do it, but I didn't know why, all I could figure out is that it postponed round three until 7:45. However, right before I was going to head back to the stadium to watch that…that disgrace of a girl perform in round three, one of the others girls informed me of what was going on." Taylor then paused and looked at Ash with an apologetic expression, and then started to cry again. "I-I'm so sorry, I-I didn't do anything to s-stop them! Ugh, even th-though I knew it was w-wrong, I did n-nothing to help!"

"What do you mean you did nothing to help?" Ash questioned.

"You're girlfriend."

"Iris! S-She's not my girlfriend-"

"They kidnapped her!"

At the sound of those words Ash felt his heart nearly stop. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words emitted from his voice box. He was just stunned stiff, but that didn't stop anger from burning in his chest. Misty and her goons had kidnapped Iris! Where were they keeping her! Why did they do such a thing?! Was she hurt?! Would he ever see Iris again?!

Ash's head was spinning with questions, but Taylor quickly started to answer saying that the girl with purple hair was being confined in Slowpoke Suites. She had no knowledge of the exact location in the building but she swore that was where they were keeping Iris. "You have to be quick, from what I heard, Misty's keeping there so she can't perform in round three."

"B-But hasn't it already started?!" Ash asked, panicked.

"Yes, but according to the schedule, they'll be showing clips focused on the top three competitors throughout the pageant's events. Right after that they'll start the performances with the third place girl Jacy going first, then it'll be Misty, saving the first place contestant Iris for the finale."

"Damn, that gives me, what? A little over forty five minutes?" Ash estimated.

"Pika pi chu!"

"Axew ew ax!"

The two Pokemon gave looks of determination. They were right; there was no time to think too much about this. Ash didn't know what perils would face him if he was going to save his beloved purple haired princess or if he would make it in time! But that didn't matter; there was a damsel in distress that needed him! Not wasting another second, the raven haired teen turned to find the nearest exit, but Taylor called out to him.

"If…no I mean, when you find Iris, could you please ask her to forgive me for all those things I said about her and her Pokemon durning our battle in round two? I never thought she was freak, honestly she's very brave for standing up to such a monster, I-I just acted the way I did because Misty ordered me to! I didn't mean it, I-"

"No worries Taylor," Ash said with a reassuring smile. "I know Iris; she'll be more than happy to put it in the past for helping her out."

Taylor smiled back, before blinking as her eyes became cold and uninviting like they had been when she had taken Ash's tickets at the stairs. She then snapped in an annoyed tone. "Hey! Promise me that you make that red head pay for what she did to me and probably all those clueless girls that are under her control!"

"It'll be my pleasure." Ash responded with smirk of delight.

The one in yellow shook her head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk what a rowdy little monster you are."

Iris remained unfazed to the insult. After hearing them all day, they bounced right off of her, but she still clenched her teeth and flashed a look of rage.

"Oh, don't start glaring at us!" Squealed the one in pink with an expression of horror as she dramatically turned her face away from Iris's gaze.

"For all we know you could be Medusa's a long lost sister and turn us all to stone!" Added the one in green, earning a cackle from her two companions at her joke.

"I still can't believe how cruel you three are." Iris said, trying hard not to keep the pain of betrayal from seeping into her tone, which she found a tad hard now that the gag they had wedged into her mouth now laid on the floor, still damp with the saliva that had gathered on it during the time it sat between her lips.

It had only been recently removed when Iris had made a bold attempt to escape. It had been up to pure chance that the chair Misty had bonded her to, had a loose back board. Seeing this Iris had manage to rock back and forth and break the piece of wood at just the right angle, and in doing so she used the splintered wood to cut the rope that tied her hands together. Granted she had obtained a few cuts and splinters from doing so and it took nearly fifteen minutes but she had gotten it done none the less. After untying her ankles, Iris wasted no time in finding a way out of the room. The windows were too far up from the ground to make a safe jump so the door was the only option. The girl with purple hair had been cautions and braced herself to face whatever Misty had guarding the door, but she was surprised that there was no one. In fact Iris was able to make her way towards a flight of stairs when the three girls dressed in yellow, pink and green finally noticed her. Iris knew she could outrun them easily with her bare feet, vs them and their heels, but after her legs had been immobile for so long they were still trying to wake up leaving her venerable to the U-Turn attack one of their Minccino had jabbed her in the back with. It had knocked the air out of her and Iris couldn't fight back as they once again utilized the same technique of having the Minccino's fluffy tails wrap around her and drag her back to the room. Now she sat on the floor, tied up once more away from anything that could be used for escaping.

"Cruel?" The one in yellow repeated in a quizzical tone.

"We're not being cruel!" the girl in pink piped up.

"We're just taking the role of Princess Misty's loyal subjects and following her orders!" the one in green clarified.

"Misty may have ordered you to keep me here, but that doesn't exempt you from being just as bad as she is!" Iris declared angrily. "You three cheated, lied and manipulated people all day-"

"But it was for a good cause!" The one in yellow interrupted in a tone that was rather soft and almost meek. It was as if she was unsure of her own words.

"Although we may not agree with Princess Misty's um…methods, we follow then knowing that it'll all turn out for the better." The girl in green added, a slight twinge of…was it guilt in her voice?

The girls wearing yellow and green headed for the door while the one in pink came over to Iris with the piece of cloth, she had rid of her mouth earlier, held preciously between her forefinger and her thumb. The girl in pink grumbled about why she had to do this but didn't hesitate when she wedged it rather roughly back into Iris's mouth. As she reached back to tie it in place, chocolaty eyes glared at her, however the angered gaze was met with something surprised Iris. The one in pink returned the glare with pale pink eyes that gleamed with an expression the prisoner could quite decipher. However it was one that didn't allow anger and hate swell inside her like Misty's icy gaze had done. The girl with purple hair was so befuddled by it that she hardly noticed that the lights were turned off, the door of the room was closed and the lock was latched with a soft click.

"There it is," Ash panted as he approached the large building that towered high in the sky. A elaborate ocean blue and white sign with the words, "Welcome to the Slowpoke Suites", was out front along with a large Slowpoke shaped fountain that gushed water from it's mouth, catching the sinking sun's rays. With the hotel's height, detailed architecture and eye catching color scheme of different hues of blue, dazzling white and a touch of pink here and there, Ash had to admit that it looked like a rather beautiful place to stay for a week or two. And at the same time, this hotel looked far too fancy and the last place someone would suspect to find a kidnapped person in. Knowing that he didn't have much time, the raven haired teen approached the hotel's entrance, only to see a man locking the front doors. "Um, excuse me-"

"Sorry, you'll have to come back later if you want to check into a room," the man said as he removed the keys from the lock and placed them in his pocket. Looking at Ash he added quickly, "And if you're getting a room because you're snobbish girlfriend, annoying sister, nagging mother, loud mouth cousin, or any other female is forcing you to do so, I'm sorry to say that I'm not going to make any exception. I've dealt with enough of that all day long-"

"I'm not here to get a room, sir." Ash informed the man. "I was just wanted to know if you happen to see a girl with a dark complexion and purple hair-"

"Kid, I've seen a lot of girls today, you're going to have to be more specific than that."

"H-Her name's Iris, you know-"

"Oh, the one who's in first place in the pageant?" Ash nodded. The man laughed, "Of course I haven't seen her! She's supposed to be performing in that last round of the Princess of Unova pageant; it's the sole reason why I have to lock up, everyone's down at the stadium waiting to for it to start."

Ash frowned, if this man, who more than likely owned this place, didn't see Iris get carried into this hotel where else could see be? Taylor wouldn't give him misleading information would she?

"The only important person I saw today was the girl that's holding onto second place," The man said, but with a distasteful frown on her face. "She went by the name 'Princess' Misty and it just so happens that the special area she had been looking for was Slowpoke Suites. The girl was rather rude and demanded that I give her one of the best rooms in-" The man paused and blinked at the angered look on the raven haired teen's face. Sweatdropping he added, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say bad things about your favorite princess in the competition-"

"She's not my favorite," Ash interrupted, his words sharp and direct. The thought of people liking that red head, such as those fangirls who basically worshiped the ground she walked on, made his skin crawl. "Now, are you positive you didn't see, Iris?"

The man shook his head. "Nope," he then started to walk towards the street towards the stadium. "The closest you or I'll get to see her is when we watch her perform in round three."

Ash watched the hotel owner leave the premises of his building, before turning to look at it. No lights were visible through any of the windows and he had just witness the place being locked up. Could this really be the place Misty was holding Iris captive? "But he just said that Misty was here today. So this has to be the place" Ash muttered. He started to pace back and forth as his mind whirled. He didn't have time to go back to the stadium and ask for more information from Taylor; in fact he didn't know if what she said was true! Where could his princess be?!

"Pi! Chu pika!" Ash flinched when Pikachu hollered in his ear and tugged on his hair. He was about to scold the Pokemon when he noticed the electric type's shocked expression and pointing finger. Following the direction in which Pikachu pointed to Ash was able to see a window near the top of building, at first he thought there was nothing to see, but as he focused his vison amber eyes widened with horror.

"Iris!" The sound of the girl's name caused a wave of relief to wash over him, but it was quickly over powered by the feeling of fear and disbelief at the sight of her. There was a gag in her mouth, her long royal purple hair was a mess and even from the distance in which he stood Ash could see the emotion of terror gleaming in those large tear filled eyes as she desperately pressed herself against the glass of window, silently screaming for help. "Don't worry; I'm going to get you out of there!" However as these words left his lips he was met with another frightening sight when a pairs of pale hands came out from behind Iris, grabbed her roughly by her neck and shoulders and started yanking her away from the window! Ash could only watch helplessly as she tried to fight back but failed when a second pair of hands appeared, clutched a clump of her hair and jerked her back and causing Iris's form to disappear from view.

Determination and anger burned inside Ash and used this drive to try and find a way inside. The majority of the windows were too far off the ground and the one he could reach refused to open from the outside. There were side door but they had been locked as well as the front. The only option he found was an air vent, once Pikachu had iron tailed the covering off, he found that it was just barely big enough for him to crawl through. Once inside Ash stumbled around the dark as he frantically started looking from a way up to the top of the building. He didn't have time to find a way to turn back on the electricity, even with Pikachu's assistance so he settled for the stairs. Ash had never encountered so many stairs before and was already winded after a few flights, but every time he stopped or paused, the image of Iris and her terrified expression would reappear in his mind. Gritting his teeth, Ash would continue to move forwards. Iris was his princess and he was her knight in shining armor. He had to save her, even if it meant climbing up a tower and fighting off enemies!

"Come on, you two." Ash said between breaths as he leaned against the wall, waiting for Pikachu and Axew to catch up. As he waited he glanced up at the remaining stairs, "We only have to climb four more flights." It sounded like a simple task, but with his legs feeling like jelly he was unsure of himself being able to gather any more endurance to finish the last leg of said task. But this feeling only lasted for a moment, he had to save Iris! "I'm going on ahead," Ash called over his shoulder as he proceed up the currant flight of stairs, as he was nearing the top he added, "catch up as soon as you can-GAAH!"

Pikachu and Axew snapped their heads up in alarm at the sound of Ash's sudden cry of pain and were about to inquire what was the matter, but didn't get the chance since they had to dive out of the way of the raven haired teen as he came tumbling down the stairs and made rather rough contact with the nearby wall.

"Pika!" Pikachu scurried over towards his master who lay crumpled to the floor, hugging his abdomen and groaning in utter most pain. "Pi chu pika?"

Ash couldn't answer to the electric type's sounds of distress, he was too preoccupied with swallowing down the feeling of nausea and nursing his aching middle. He didn't know what happened, one second he was climbing the stairs what came next was a sudden blow to the stomach that knocked all the air out of him and sent him hurdling down the stairs. "Ugh…w-what was th-that?" Ash managed as he regained his breath and cautiously sat up.

"Axew ew!" The dragon type Pokémon exclaimed as he pointed up towards the flight of stairs that Ash had roughly dissented down moments earlier. Standing at the top of that stairs was a small silhouette, it was no larger than Pikachu but it looked oddly familiar.

"W-Was it you that pushed me down the stairs?" Ash asked, not sure if something that small could deliver such a crippling blow like he had just experienced.

In response there was a small chattering sound, before the silhouette reviled itself to be a Pokemon that was well known the Unova region. "Min-Minccino…" The Chinchilla Pokemon whimpered as it timidly poked it's round face out from behind the puffy gray and white tail that it cuddled to its middle.

"A Minccino?' Ash questioned in confusion. At the sound of its name the normal type gave a cry of alarm and hid itself behind it's tail again. "I didn't mean to scare you!" Ash said, carefully climbing a few stairs to the reach the trembling Pokemon. He waited for the Minccino to show its face again before giving a warm smile. "Are you okay? Oh well that's a stupid question, you did get locked inside a hotel after all." The pokemon gave a small smile and nodded. "I guess you just attacked me out of instinct." Ash reached out and patted the small Pokemon on it's head. "With those large ears of yours, you probably heard me running up stairs and thought I was a monster or something." Continuing to pet the gray Pokemon Ash's fingers brushed against one of it's large ears and blinked in confusion when he felt something with a material like feel. Upon looking closer Ash noticed that this thing was a bow, a yellow bow. "Do you belong to someone?" He asked the Pokemon.

At this question the Minccino uncurled itself from the position it was sitting in and stood up right and gave a happy nod of it's head. Ash was about to ask if the Chinchilla Pokmeon knew where its owner was when it suddenly took a few paces back away from him.

"Hey, where are you going?"

As if to answer the Minccino simply shook it's head and then pointed at Ash before adopted a sinister smile. Ash was so startled by this sudden attitude change that he didn't have time to react when the Minccino charged up a white aura around itself and then launched it's entire being at him! The results were just like it had been before, a pain filled blow that sent Ash flying down the stairs!

"W-What…the hell was that f-for?!" Ash demanded, but the normal type didn't give an answer. Instead it giggled mischievously and much to Ash's surprise three more voices joined in with the laughing. Three new figures appeared from the floor above and lone and behold they were the two girls in pink and green, occupied by their ex best friend in yellow who stood between them. "It's you two." Ash smiled at seeing two familiar faces. "What are you two doing here, with her? Did you get locked in here like this evil Minccino?"

"Locked in? Oh, not at all." It was the one in pink who answered with a tone that was smug, unlike the rather polite and cheery tone Ash had witnessed her using earlier today.

"We're here because we've been excepting company to arrive," the one in green explained with a smirk.

"That company just so happens to be you," the one in yellow finished. "Ash, is it?"

Ash blinked. How did the yellow one know his name? He hadn't mentioned it when she had spoken to him in the park today. More importantly why were the girls in green and pink with her? "Um, yes." He answered as he slowly got to his feet.

The one in yellow sighed as if something was bothering her. "Even though I was really hoping that you wouldn't show up, your appearance proves that there are a few girls who aren't as loyal as we assumed they were."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The girl wearing pink shook her head in distaste. "Looks like we're going to have to hunt down some filthy Raticates later on."

"It's such a shame too, considering all the nice things Princess Misty has done for them." The in green added.

Ash stared in disbelief as the three girls continued to conversant with each other as if he wasn't there. Non-loyal girls? Hunting down Raticates? Princess Misty?! "What's going on here?" Ash demanded after hearing the name of the red head.

"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt a lady's conversation?" the one in green snapped as she narrowed her eyes down at him.

"But if you must know," the one in yellow mused in annoyance she went on to plainly state. "We're just following orders as they were given."

"One of these order include taking care of the unruly likes of you." The girl adorned in pink said as an uncanny smile curled on her lips.

Ash frowned. "I don't have time for any of your BS! I have to get up to the top of this hotel to save Iris!"

"Iris?" They ones in pink and green repeated together with tones that sounded surprised.

Ash was starting to lose his patience. "Yes, Iris. Misty had her kidnapped by her fangirls and I have to get her back to the stadium in time for her round three performance before-"

"Oh, Iris!" the girl in green said as if she had just stumbled upon a realization.

"Sorry, but I think the person you're talking about isn't even a person at all." The one in green said.

"She nothing more and a wild beast that needs to remain contained and keep isolated from the public." The girl in yellow said coldly. "And since Princess Misty can't risk breaking a nail, doing such tasks as kidnapping, she assigned a few of her loyal subjects to assist her in hunting down this deranged animal and capturing it."

"A-Assistance?" Ash felt the color drain from his face in utter shock and horror, but his expression was only met with laughter from not only the girl in yellow but from the girls in green and pink as well! They were all the same! All terribly evil. Just like the red head leader they served. Feeling his face burn with anger Ash shouted. "What have you done with Iris?!"

The girl's response was nothing more than laughter. "My oh my! Looks like you're no better than that filthy creature we've managed to catch," the girl in pink said.

"However, if you insist on saving her," the girl in green stated with a look of disgust.

"You're going to have to get past the three of us!" the one in yellow stated with an evil smile. "Minccino, come forth and assist us in removing this vermin from our sight, for Princess Misty!"

In an instant the Minccino with a yellow bow along with the two other Minccinos, one wearing a green bow while the other wore a pink one, appeared before their assigned masters. Ash gritted his teeth, time was ticking away but he knew if he was going to rescue Iris he was going to have to defeat these three pests. Besides, what kind of knight would he be if he didn't slay a few dragons that stood in his way?

"Axew, Pikachu." The two Pokémon didn't need to hear anything more as they leaped up in front of him ready to battle, despite the odds being two against three. "Let's save our princess."

Looks like Knight Ash is task with destroying a few evil monsters so he came climb the rest of the tower and rescue Princess Iris! Will he be victorious? Will he be able to beat the clock and help Iris get back to the stadium in time? Find out in the final chapter of A Different Kind of Princess!

Bye: Toadettegirl2012

PS: Review