The Dragon Master II: Chapter Nine

	I dived out of the way of Flargini's glider and called my katana. He jumped 
off of his glider and we started to duel. He took a slash at me, and I 
ducked and took his feet out from underneath of him. He fell to the floor, 
and I was running away, my cloak billowing out behind me. He however, threw 
his katana and pinned my cloak to the wall. He got up and ran over to me. I 
threw off my cloak when he tackled me. I threw him off of me, when I felt 
the building move. Flargini's glider was still firing rockets at the 
building! Misty and the manager were standing there, watching this. Flargini 
rolled out the hole that I had created. He landed on top of his glider and 
flew away. He threw his purple cloak with stars and moons at the building, 
and it exploded! I felt the building starting to tip.
	"Misty," I said. "Go and evacuate everybody in the building we have to get 
everybody out of here. Now!" She and the manager rushed down the stairs, 
while I jumped out of the hole that Flargini had created. I threw my six 
dragon pokemon out in all different directions, all of them erupting from 
their teal pokeballs in a flash of teal light. I called my wings, and stared 
back up at the tipping building.
	"Scarlet, Dragonight, Dragon, Aeroy, Flare, Puff," I commanded, "we have to 
hold up that building long enough for Misty and the others to get out." They 
all nodded and braced themselves up against the building. We were fighting a 
losing battle, as the building was almost dislocated. We all heard a loud 
snap, and had to work harder. I shot a Hyper Beam out of my feet, propelling 
me faster. The building straightened itself a little bit more, but that 
tired me out and I couldn't keep it up much longer. All of my pokemon were 
blowing a flamethrower or fire blasting so they could get more pressure. I 
saw a spout of water come up right in front of my face, and I looked down to 
see where the water had come from. Misty was down on the ground. She was 
waving and yelling that everybody was safe. I had to check it out, though. I 
flew in an open window, and searched around for anybody.
	"Is anybody in here," I yelled. I heard a muffled screaming coming from 
down the corridor. I flew down there at breakneck speed and went into the 
office. There was a little girl, cowering in a corner. I picked her up.
	"Who are you," she asked.
	"I'm Bob," I said. "I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"
	"Okay," the little girl said. I felt a shift in the tilt. We were now 
tipping the other way! The top of the Radio Tower was falling into the 
ocean! I took flight down the corridor and spotted the first open window 
that I saw. I couldn't see anything but water out of it. There was no other 
option. I flew out of the window and towards the water, shielding the little 
girl. I had always carried a breathing apparatus with me.
	"Put this is your mouth," I said to the girl. She took it, and did as she 
was told. I protected the girl from the impact of the water. I swam as deep 
as I possibly could, because the top of the tower was following me. I heard 
an ear-deafening splash behind us, and I was running out of room to swim in. 
Not to mention air. I immediately cut sideways as fast as I could. The 
little girl had her eyes open in fear, as she saw what was going on behind 
us. The tower hit the ocean floor, and the dust flew. I cut up, and flew out 
of the water toward the crowd. There were police and firefighters there, 
controlling the crowd. I landed and the little girl's father ran up to me 
and took the girl.
	"How can I ever thank you," the man asked as his daughter hugged him tight.
	"Don't ever bring your daughter to work again," I advised. There were lots 
of reporters waiting to interview me.
	"Was this the work of the so-called Mysticman John Flargini," one of them 
asked.
	"Yes," I said. "But the League has it under control. Nobody was hurt. 
That's all that matters right now. I myself will put a stop to this insane 
man."
	"Is there a double-agent in the League," another reporter asked.
	"No," I lied. "I trust all of the Pokemon Masters within and outside of, 
the League. No more questions." I was looking for Misty. I snapped my 
fingers and the cops set up a barricade so the reporters couldn't get to me. 
I finally saw Misty running towards me. As she came up to me, she hugged me 
tight.
	"Oh, Bob," Misty said. "I was so worried. I didn't think that you would 
make it." My pokemon flew down beside us.
	"But I did," I said. I then kissed her on the lips to ease her worries. 
"And I always will." We then walked off to Whitney's Gym to get away from 
the media.
	"O my God," Whitney said when we told her what had happened to the Radio 
Tower. "Flargini destroyed the Radio Tower. How many people died?"
	"Thanks to me and Misty," I said, "none. But he could've killed hundreds. 
And for that, and killing Blaine, he will pay."
	"I heard what happened to Blaine," Whitney said. "So the funeral is 
tomorrow?"
	"Yeah," I said. "You're supposed to come to the service. He'll be buried in 
the Master cemetery by The Palace Of The Elite Four. Wear your Master's 
cloak." Misty and I walked out of her Gym and flew to Indigo Plateau.
	"Bob," Darla asked as we landed. "What the hell happened to the Radio 
Tower?"
	"Darla," her mother scolded. "Watch your language. Now Bob, what the hell 
happened to the Radio Tower?"
	"Flargini," I said. "He blew off the top with his rockets from a glider. 
But nobody was killed or injured. We're lucky because of that fact."
	"O good," Darla said. "What did it fall on?"
	"The ocean," I said. "So the only damage that was done was to the Radio 
Tower itself."
	"Does the media blame you," Darla asked.
	"If I wouldn't have saved that girl or my pokemon hadn't helped keep the 
building upright," I said, "they would've."
	"We're gonna go sleep," Misty said. "We haven't slept good 
for...well...whenever this whole Flargini business started."
	"Then you two go get some sleep," Koga said as he joined in. "And I mean 
'sleep'. You know, where you close your eyes and stop functioning."
	"Koga," I said. "You can trust us. Seriously, we're tired. You must be 
too."
	"As a ninja," Koga said. "We can function well without sleep for a week."
	"Gotcha," I said as I walked to my chambers. I just fell onto my bed and 
fell right asleep. Misty just collapsed right beside me.
	When we woke up, it was about 3 o'clock in the morning. Since the funeral 
wasn't until eight, we still had some time. Duplica knocked on the door and 
came in.
	"Bob, Misty," she whispered. "I saw you up and figured that you two 
couldn't sleep."
	"Well," I said. "We have been sleeping for the past twelve hours. So I 
think that you're right."
	"Well," Duplica said. "There's something that I have to discuss with you. 
It's about Flargini." I kind of looked down and away from both of them.
	"What do you need to know," I asked, still looking away.
	"Did he kill Blaine," she asked. I kind of hesitated for a moment.
	"Yes," I said. "Flargini killed Blaine. And I swore to his ex-wife that he 
would die by my hands."
	"I see," Duplica said. "I just picked up the newspaper. The League gets it 
5 hours early, so I got up and took it. Read the front page." I took the 
paper from her and looked at the top headline, Misty reading over my 
shoulder.
	"It says 'Pokemon League Champion saves lives in the Radio Tower bombing'," 
I said. "So? What's the big deal?"
	"The big deal is there," Duplica said. "Underneath the picture. It says 
that there is a double agent in the League. Is there?"
	"How did they find out," I wondered out loud. "I told them that there 
wasn't."
	"So, is there," Duplica asked.
	"I'm not gonna lie to you," I said. "Yes, there is one."
	"Who is it," Duplica asked, her curiosity peaking.
	"If I knew, they'd be dead already," I said.
	"Whenever someone opposes you," Duplica asked, "do they always have to end 
up dead? Misty, you've got a real winner here."
	"Big deal," I said. "I killed Lance. The point was, it was him or me. I 
won, he lost. I have to get ready for the funeral." Duplica went out and 
back to her room, and Misty put her hand on my shoulder.
	"What's wrong," Misty asked me.
	"Nothing," I said, though something was. "I'm fine."
	"No," Misty said. "You're not. Tell me." She had that look on her face, 
that look where she wouldn't give up until she found out.
	"Remember when Flargini sent me that first letter," I asked.
	"Yeah," Misty said, not sure where this was going.
	"He said that he'd make me lose what mattered most to me," I continued. 
"Even more than my own life. There's only one thing that I can lose that's 
more important than my own life."
	"What's that," Misty asked.
	"You," I said. "That's why I don't want you coming with me. Flargini may 
kill you."
	"Oh," Misty said. She was looking sad at first, then relieved. "I thought 
that you were cheating on me."
	"What,"  I asked. "Why would I ever do that? You know that I love you." We 
stares at each other for a moment, then we kissed, and we didn't stop for a 
long time.
	All of the Pokemon Masters were there at Blaine's funeral, in their cloaks, 
including Darla, as her training was going well. I gave the eulogy, and 
watched one of the best Pokemon Masters in the entire League, go down into 
the ground, for an eternal rest. Some of the other Masters, such as Erika, 
Whitney, and Janine, were all crying because of the loss of Blaine. Sabrina, 
however, was just standing there, with her eyes closed. Though it looked 
like she did not even care, I knew that she was the one giving out the most 
emotion of all. It was a rainy day, and all of us walked back into the 
Palace of the Elite Four after the service was done and over with. I even 
saw Lorelei on top of a nearby building, also mourning the loss of Blaine. 
As I was about to walk inside the Palace of the Elite Four, a piece of 
soaked paper drifted down and I caught it, it was from Lorelei.
It read:

Dearest Bob,
	It was a good thing that you did for Darla. Giving that wonderful eulogy in 
front of her; it makes me wish that they would trust me enough to have let 
me attend. Blaine was one of my closest friends, you know. We may have 
disagreed on elements at one time or another; he always supported me for 
doing what I wanted to do. He was a good man. I hope that this little 
sidetrack will not stop you from locating the rest of the Shards and 
defeating Flargini. Good luck, my son.

							Sincerely,
								Lorelei, The Ice Master

	"Hey Bob," Misty said. "Come in. It's pouring out there." I looked up one 
last time, and then I walked through the doors, with Misty's hand in mine.
	The next day, Misty and I used the flute to figure out which Shard we would 
try and locate next.
	"Well," Misty said. "We could go and get the Steel Shard. Or if you want to 
go into Kanto we can get the Grass, Poison, Ground, or Psychic Shards."
	"Let's go and collect the final ones from Johto," I said. "Then we'll go 
and get the ones from Kanto." I was still kind of subdued from the last day. 
Blaine's funeral had been anything other than uplifting. Misty held on to 
me, and we flew off towards Olivine City.
	When we landed, we headed directly for Jasmine's Gym. We entered, and 
Jasmine was training with her Steelix.
	"Oh," Jasmine said. "How are you two?" She was still kind of subdued, too. 
She had also been sad about the Radio Tower bombing.
	"Aside from Blaine's death, the Radio Tower being destroyed, and Flargini 
still on the loose," I said, "just fine."
	"That bad, huh," Jasmine sympathized. "Well, I assume that you're here to 
collect another Elemental Shard. If it's anything but steel, I don't know 
where to look."
	"Well," Misty spoke up. "It is the Steel Shard that we're after. Would you 
have any idea where it may be? Our map indicates that it is indeed in 
Olivine City."
	"Perhaps you can check the steel mines out back," Jasmine suggested. "My 
pokemon and I will come and help you dig through the steel."
	"Great," I said. "The only type that's strong against dragon, and I have to 
pound through at least ten feet of it."
	"Well," Jasmine said. "The scanner said that it was twenty."
	"Joy freaking joy," I said as the three of us walked out to the steel mines 
behind her Gym. Jasmine was right, there was a whole bunch of steel behind 
her Gym. She handed us both picks that she had conjured from her Mastery, 
and we all began to dig. Her Scizor was using his Metal Claw to get through 
the steel, her Steelix, his iron tail, her Skarmory, her steel wing, her 
Magenton and her Forretress were exploding once the others got some headway.
	"This...is...hard...work," Misty panted. I had removed my cloak and thrown 
it aside, and was working in a pair of teal pants, and a teal cutoff 
T-shirt.
	"Yeah," I said. "But just remember, were doing this to avenge Blaine's 
death."
	"What do you mean," Jasmine asked. "How will this help get revenge on the 
volcano? Poor Blaine, his love killed him."
	"The volcano didn't kill Blaine," I said. "Flargini did."
	"What," Jasmine said. "But the volcano exploded-"
	"After Flargini had taken away Blaine's life source," I said. "That's 
another reason that I'm collecting the Shards. I'm doing it for vengeance." 
My pick hit a metal that I couldn't break. I hyper beamed the rest of the 
remained steel. There it was, the door to the Steel Shard. There was a clue 
in Unown writing, as the other doors had been. It read:

Are you like the steel type,
Which is strong, quick, and cunning?
If you cannot defeat it,
Away from it you shall be running.

	"Flare, go," I said. "Be prepared to use your flamethrower. We're gonna 
need it." The flame on Flare's tail erupted as he was getting pumped.
	"Um, as you can imagine," Jasmine stated, "I don't like fire. So can I ask 
Flare to step away from me?"
	"Yeah," I said. "Flare, you heard her. Come closer to the door. Be ready." 
I pressed the button under the clue. The door opened, and we were faced with 
a room with just the shard on a podium. I walked into the room and grabbed 
the Shard. The doors closed behind me, and I was trapped inside the room, 
while Misty, Jasmine, and Flare were on the outside.
	"Bob," I head Misty yelling. "What's going on?" I couldn't respond, as I 
was paralyzed with fear. Out of the steel walls, cam two six-foot steel 
people, holding katanas, and advancing steadily, and ready to kill.
	"This can be anything but good," I said to myself. As for the steel 
swordsmen, they were almost to me, ready to slice me into bits. With the 
door closed, I had no way  to escape...
-                                         End of Chapter Nine                
                       -