The Dragon Master III: Chapter Six

	When I woke up the next morning, the first thing that I saw in the 
PokeCenter was Lorelei. She was sitting at one of the tables, drinking some 
coffee. As I walked up to her, she smiled, and I sat down across from her.
	"How's Bob," Lorelei asked.
	"He's fine," I said. "I'll get him back to the orphanage in a week, just as 
I promised. Though I have to do this first."
	"I completely understand," Lorelei said. "That was a good battle yesterday. 
You could become the League Champion." I kind of shuddered at that thought.
	"That's the last thing that I want to do," I said. "I just need to talk to 
Tony Marchello."
	"Do you know him," Lorelei asked. I looked away for about ten seconds, and 
then I looked back to Lorelei.
	"I have some...connections with him," I replied. "But that doesn't explain 
why you're here."
	"The reason that I'm here," Lorelei started, "is to make sure that you're 
okay with the fact that your next opponent is seven-feet, 250 pounds."
	"I'm not scared of Bruno," I said. "He gives me no reason to be scared of 
him."
	"Ah," Lorelei said. "But if you happen to tie, then you and Bruno have to 
go face-to-face; no pokemon. Only hand-to-hand combat. What do you think 
about that? And he's no pushover. But then again, neither are you. Just make 
sure not to get caught against his Machamp. Do you have any clue what its 
weaknesses are?"
	"Yeah," I said. "Flying and Psychic. As I have no Psychic, I will have to 
use Flare and Fly."
	"Your Charizard could be useful to you in this battle," she suggested. "But 
with your 'Hyper Blast,' that should take him out, no problem."
	"You think so," I asked.
	"Not since Bruno was watching yesterday's battle between us," Lorelei said. 
"Now, he's gonna be ready for it. And Hyper Blast won't even affect Agatha's 
ghost pokemon. It's gonna be a long road for you. But don't worry, because 
it's a fun one." I heard a gong sound and the intercom started to talk.
	"Will the challenger please meet in the arena for his match with Bruno, the 
Master of Fighting," the loudspeaker said.
	"I guess that I had better go, Lorelei," I said. "See you around." I got 
up, called my cloak, collected my pokemon from Nurse Joy, and walked towards 
the stadium. I was greeted by cheers from the crowd. Numerous thoughts were 
zooming in and out of my head, all of them wondering how I was going to 
defeat Master Bruno. He was standing there, with his maroon cloak, with no 
shirt, showing off his bulging muscles.
	"Hello, Master Bruno," I greeted him, holding out my hand to him. But, I 
had to extend it far over my head.
	"It's good to meet a decent challenger for once," Bruno said as he took my 
hand and shook it slightly.
	"Shall we battle, then," I asked. "Because I want to get it over with."
	"You will once you experience all the pain that I put you through," Bruno 
said with a sarcastic smile. "Let's begin!" With that, we went to the 
opposite sides of the field, and threw his hood down from his head. We 
stared at each other, each of us trying to decide what pokemon to choose.
	"Go, Hitmontop," Bruno yelled, as one of the three different Tyrouge 
evolutions came out of its maroon pokeball in a flash of maroon light. 
Hitmontop balanced on the spike on its head, and immediately started to spin 
around for show.
	"Go, Aeroy," I yelled, as my Aeroydactyl came out of its teal pokeball in a 
flash of teal light.
	"Hitmontop, use Rapid Spin," Bruno yelled.
	"Aeroy, Fly," I yelled as Aeroy flew up high. Hitmontop's attack missed, 
leaving him spinning into a wall, damaging him a little bit. Aeroy was 
coming down at top speed, ready to ram into Hitmontop.
	"Hitmontop, Detect," Bruno shouted at hit fighting-type pokemon. A maroon 
mist covered Hitmontop. When Aeroy came down, he just ricocheted right off 
the mist and went careening into the arena wall, taking lots of damage with 
him.
	"Argh," I yelled. "Aeroy, attack with Hyper Blast!" Aeroy shot out a thin 
beam from its mouth, heading directly at Hitmontop.
	"Hitmontop, Detect," Bruno ordered again. His Hitmontop, However, was 
trying with all its might to create the mist again, but it had seemed that 
he had run out of energy.
	"Bruno," I yelled, as the Hyper Blast came ever closer to Hitmontop. "You 
can't use Detect twice in a row. That's just a rule."
	"Argh," Bruno yelled, as the beam of energy came straight for the 
Hitmontop. Right when it reached the enemy pokemon, the beam erupted into a 
powerful attack. Immediately, the Hitmontop was knocked out and blasted back 
into the wall.
	"Good job, Aeroy," I congratulated my Aerodactyl as Bruno looked at his 
fainted Hitmontop while he held out its pokeball.
	"Hitmontop, return," he said as a maroon beam of light shot out of the 
maroon pokeball and encased the fainted Hitmontop. "Go, Hitmonchan!" His 
next Tyrouge evolution came out of its maroon pokeball in a flash of maroon 
light. It threw a couple of lighting fast jabs into the air, and then it 
prepared for battle.
	"Come on, Aeroy," I said. "Let's beat this pokemon down to the ground." 
Aeroy was ready to go and he was beckoning all of his energy to him.
	"I think not," Bruno said, with his macho muscles bulging. "Hitmonchan, 
Triple Bullet Punch!" I didn't get a chance to counterattack. One second, 
Hitmonchan was there, ready to start fighting. The next, he was gone, and 
attacking Aeroy.
	"Aeroy, Fire Blast," I yelled. With the Hitmonchan still punching away at 
him, Aeroy let loose a star of fire that narrowly missed Hitmonchan. 
However, it did some good as the Hitmonchan backed off.
	"Now Hitmonchan," Bruno yelled. "Elemental Punch!" Obedient to his master's 
command, both of Hitmonchan's fists glowed white. He was combining every 
single one of the eighteen elements and attacking Aeroy with them all!
	"Aeroy, look out," I yelled. But it was too late. Hitmonchan was nailing 
Aeroy with punches, connecting every single one. And Aeroy was just taking 
it, not dishing out any.
	"Keep it up," Bruno yelled. "Don't let it get away!" Aeroy was going to get 
knocked out. There was only one thing that I could do to stop that.
	"Aeroy, Roar," I yelled. Aeroy let loose one of the loudest Roars that I ad 
ever heard. At that time, Hitmonchan blurred into maroon energy. That energy 
zoomed back into its maroon pokeball, leaving Aeroy safe.
	"What kind of attack was that," Bruno yelled, as he tried to send out 
Hitmonchan again. Unfortunately for him, Hitmonchan wouldn't come out 
because the Roar scared him away.
	"Good job, Aeroy," I said. "Keep it up."
	"Go, Onix," Bruno yelled. My stomach plummeted. There was no way that Aeroy 
could beat that thing. But I had to take a chance.
	"Aeroy, Steel Wing," I yelled. This was my only chance at beating that 
Onix. Aeroy took flight, and his wings glowed a steel kind of color. Aeroy's 
wings struck Onix. The attack was so powerful, that Aeroy was almost thrown 
off balance because of it.
	"Onix," Bruno yelled. "Sandstorm!" All of the loose sand on the field rose 
up and started to swirl around the two battling pokemon.
	"Aeroy," I yelled. "Use Ancientpower!" At my command, the rocks started to 
fly along with the sand. I could hear screams of pain from both Aeroy and 
Onix. It wasn't the Sandstorm that was hurting them; it was the 
Ancientpower. When the Sandstorm had subsided, both rock pokemon were lying 
there on the ground, both of them knocked out. There were gasps from the 
crowd louder than that of when I had battled Lorelei. Bruno was standing 
there, with his mouth wide open.
	"How is this possible," Bruno wondered out loud. "Onix return!" A thin beam 
of maroon shot out and consumed Onix, while bringing it back into its 
pokeball. I, however, ran up to my fainted pokemon.
	"Aeroy, are you okay," I asked. Aeroy looked at me with tired eyes, and 
then moved a little bit.
	"Aero..." Aeroy said with a weak voice.
	"You did a good job," I said. "You deserve this. Return." A thin beam of 
teal light shot out of Aeroy's teal pokeball and recalled him inside of it.
	"Are you ready," Bruno asked. "Ready or not, go Hitmonlee!" The third 
evolution of Tyrouge came out in a flash of maroon light. The bipedal  
pokemon did a flash of kicks to try to intimidate me.
	"Go, Flare," I yelled, as my Charizard came out from its teal pokeball in a 
flash of teal light.
	"Impressive," Bruno said. "Anyway, Hitmonlee, use your Hi Jump Kick!" 
Hitmonlee jumped into the air, and prepared to kick Flare silly. I had to 
find some way to get Flare away from that attack.
	"Flare, Fly," I commanded my Charizard. Flare flew up high, and flew past 
Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee was stranded in the air, and he looked kind of worried, 
as did his master.
	"Get out of there, Hitmonlee," Bruno desperately cried to his pokemon. 
Hitmonlee was panicking, as there was no way that he could get down any 
faster.
	"Flare, now," I yelled. Flare came down hard on Hitmonlee, slamming him 
into the ground. Hitmonlee jumped up, with dirt and scratches on him, but 
other than that, he was in perfect condition.
	"Ha, beat that," Bruno said.
	"Dammit, there has to be some way to beat that Hitmonlee," I cursed. A 
light bulb popped on in my head. I knew what to do! "Flare, Earthquake!" 
Flare took both of his fists, and slammed them onto the ground. Hitmonlee 
was shaking, losing his balance. My plan was working.
	"NO," Bruno yelled. He knew what was coming.
	"Flare, Dragonbreath," I yelled. Flare threw that dragon attack out there, 
paralyzing enemy Hitmonlee. "Now, use Fly!" Flare flew up high, and he came 
down hard on Hitmonlee, pinning him to the ground. Flare did a back flip 
away from him, and stood there, waiting for something to happen. Hitmonlee 
did not get back up.
	"I know when my pokemon is too injured to continue to battle," Bruno 
admitted. "Hitmonlee, return." A thin beam of maroon light shot out of its 
pokeball and encased Hitmonlee, bringing him back into his pokeball.
	"Do you concede," I asked.
	"NEVER," Bruno yelled. "Go Hitmonchan!" Once again, Bruno's punchy pokemon 
came out, ready to fight once again that Aeroy had been knocked out.
	"Hitmonchan, hitmon," Hitmonchan said. He was throwing out lightning fast 
punches, showing off his superior ability. I had to get the upper-edge on 
this one.
	"Flare, Flamethrower," I yelled. Flare let out a burst of flame, completely 
consuming Hitmonchan. When Hitmonchan was released from the attack, both 
Bruno and I saw that Hitmonchan had been burned.
	"Hitmonchan, use your Thunderpunch," Bruno yelled at his now burned 
pokemon. Hitmonchan's fist started to crackle with electricity, and then he 
charged at Flare. After some dodging, Flare was hit with the electric 
attack.
	"Flare, no," I yelled at him. Though Flare wasn't about to give up. Flare 
picked up enemy Hitmonchan by the wrists and flung him over to the side of 
the arena. With a crash, Hitmonchan hit the side of the arena and fell to 
the ground.
	"Hitmonchan, get up," Bruno ordered in a tough guy voice. Hitmonchan 
struggled to get up to his feet.
	"Flare, Earthquake," I yelled. Hitmonchan finally got to his feet, though 
still a little shaky. Simultaneous with my command, Flare pounded the ground 
with both of his feet. As Hitmonchan had a shaky base, if any at all, he 
crashed right back to the ground.
	"Hitmonchan, get up now," Bruno yelled desperately at his bipedal pokemon. 
Hitmonchan was working to get up again.
	"Flare, Dragonbreath now," I yelled. "Finish him off!" Flare let out a huge 
dragonbreath, headed directly for Hitmonchan. It barreled him over, knocked 
not just the wind out of him, but knocking him out along with it. Bruno only 
had one pokemon left.
	"Hitmonchan, return," Bruno said in a solemn tone. In a beam a narrow 
maroon light, Hitmonchan was sucked back into its maroon pokeball. I was 
wondering what pokemon he had left. Maybe it was a Primape or a Heracross.
	"Are you ready to give up," I asked the Master of Fighting.
	"I don't give up," Bruno said, with his hood raised over his head. "GO, 
MACHAMP!" He threw his hood down, and a maroon pokeball out on the field. 
The evolved form of Machoke, Machamp had four arms instead of two. This is 
not going to be good, I thought.
	"MACHAMP," Machamp yelled in fury now that his fighting brethren had 
fallen. His fists were flailing rapidly in the air; sounding like the air 
itself was shattering.
	"Oh, shit," I cursed. "Flare, start off with Fly!" Flare flew into the sky, 
hoping to get an aerial attack off on Machamp.
	"Machamp, Rock Slide," Bruno yelled. Machamp started to throw huge chunks 
of rocks in the air. The rocks were all above Flare, and he was trying to 
dodge them all. Flare was swerving this way, and then the other, but nothing 
seemed to help. With Flare's 4x weakness to rock, if even one hit, it could 
and would hurt Flare.
	"CHAR-" Flare yelled, as one of the larger rocks hit him in his right wing, 
while another of the big rocks hit him in his left. With the weight of the 
rocks on both sides, Flare was falling down towards the earth, rocks nailing 
him everywhere.
	"Flare, no," I yelled at my Charizard as he crashed back to the earth with 
a dull thud, with all of the rocks above him falling on him. Flare was 
buried under about six feet of rock, and he wasn't moving. Though his tail 
was just barely outside of the pile of rocks, and I aimed, and recalled him 
in a thin beam of teal light.
	"Are you ready to concede yet," Bruno said in a tone of indistinctness. I 
looked at him with fury in my eyes, angry at Flare's fate. Something had to 
be done to stop that Machamp. And I think I knew what could...
	"Go, Dragonight," I yelled, as one of my Dragonites emerged from its teal 
pokeball in a flash of teal light. "Use Thunder!" Electricity exploded from 
Dragonight, more than ten thousand volts headed directly towards Machamp.
	"Machamp, use Earthquake to ground out that Thunder," Bruno commanded his 
heavily muscled fighting pokemon. The two attacks collided, and the 
Earthquake canceled out the Thunder that was traveling along the ground. The 
Thunder, however, stopped the Earthquake in its tracks, and both attacks 
ceased to exist.
	"Dragonight, Wing Attack," I yelled. This had to do a lot of damage, I 
thought. Dragonight flew off the ground about two feet, and then charged 
directly at Machamp, who was ready for the attack.
	"Machamp, get ready to use Strength," Bruno shouted. Dragonight, being a 
Dragonite, the fastest flying pokemon in existence, got to Machamp in about 
three seconds. Machamp, however, grabbed Dragonight to stop the attack, 
rolled across his back, and flung Dragonight into the wall of the arena, 
breaking it so badly, that the crowd above had to move. Dragonight was 
struggling to get up, but Machamp was advancing on it rapidly, ready to beat 
the living crap out of it.
	"Dragonight," I yelled. "Get up and use Outrage!" According to my orders, 
Dragonight got to his feet, and his fists went up in a teal fire. He was 
waiting for Machamp to come close enough to start pounding on it.
	"Machamp, Dynamic Punch that Dragonite to hell," Bruno bellowed at his 
Machamp. Now both Dragonight and Machamp were charging at each other, 
Dragonight's fists in a teal fire, while Machamp's were glowing maroon. It 
was Dragonight that struck first, though he wouldn't strike again. Even 
though Dragonight got a good punch off, it still wasn't good enough to knock 
Machamp out. A fist with teal flames nailed Machamp in the face, though both 
of Machamp's fists punched Dragonight in the stomach. Not just dealing him a 
lot of damage, but confusing him. While Dragonight was stumbling around, 
confused, Machamp was recovering from the attack.
	"Dragonight, try Hyper Blast," I desperately cried out to him. Instead, 
Dragonight rammed into the wall, getting his head stuck in it.
	"Machamp, Mega Kick," Bruno yelled at his battling pokemon. Machamp ran up 
to Dragonight, and kicked him in the stomach, finally knocking him out.
	"Dragonight, return," I said, accepting his fate. With a teal beam of light 
from its pokeball, Dragonight was recalled.
	"You do realize that you only have two pokemon left," Bruno stated. "But 
remember, I'm ready for both of them." He had a wicked smile on his face. I 
had no idea of what he was up to. Between now and when I knew him in the 
future; he had changed. Like flip sides of a coin. Alas, I had no time to 
dwell on this, as I had to choose between Dragon, Scarlet, and Puff. I had 
picked my pokemon.
	"Go, Dragon," I yelled, as my second Dragonite appeared from its teal 
pokeball in a flash of teal light.
	"Machamp, Cross Chop," Bruno screamed at his pokemon. Machamp ran forward; 
ready to capture Dragon in a powerful, double flat palmed fighting 
technique. I had one chance to defeat this pokemon right now.
	"Dragon," I commanded softly, so that it could only carry to my pokemon. 
"Elemental Imbalance!" As Machamp raged forward, ready to knock out Dragon, 
Dragon closed its eyes and started to meditate. Bruno looked confused, not 
knowing what was going on.
	"What the hell is going on here," Bruno swore, his pokemon still charging. 
Inches from nailing Dragon with a powerful move, Dragon turned into pure 
fighting energy and struck Machamp with a powerful blast.
	"Yes," I shouted, as Dragon went back to his usual form, with Machamp just 
lying on the ground. However, I spoke too soon. Machamp got up, and he was 
angry.
	"Rock Slide," Bruno yelled. Machamp started to pick up rocks and fling them 
at Dragon. Dragon wasn't paying attention, and did not notice the rocks 
being thrown at him.
	"Dragon," I yelled. "Watch out!" Just as Dragon turned his head, the rocks 
came. They pounded him in the face, the body, the wings, and everything 
else, without stopping. Soon, Dragon was lying on the ground, unconscious.
	"Hoo Hah," Bruno shouted in victory of Dragon. He was acting so arrogant, 
that he probably forgot that he still had to face one other pokemon.
	"Dragon, return," I solemnly said to my pokemon as a thin beam of teal 
light engulfed him, swallowing him back into his pokeball. I shouted my last 
pokemon to the arena. "GO, PUFF!" I threw my last hope, my last chance of 
talking to Marchello, and my last opportunity of defeating Lance once and 
for all, out on that field to battle Machamp. Puff exploded from his 
pokeball so powerfully that he almost broke it.
	"Let's make this quick," Bruno said conceitedly. "Machamp, Hyper Beam!"
	"I'm afraid that not even Machamp can stand up to a Dragonite's Hyper 
Blast," I countered. "Puff, you know what to do." I folded my arms and 
waited for something to happen. Machamp shot a large beam out of his palms, 
while Puff shot a thin beam from its mouth. They were on a colliding course, 
each racing towards the other attack. When they were about to collide, they 
both hit each other and winked out. I had expected the Hyper Blast to 
utterly destroy not just the Hyper Beam, but the Machamp as well. I didn't 
expect this.
	"Huh," Bruno and I both said together. I had to find a way to defeat him. I 
would have to use an attack that I really didn't want to use.
	"Puff, Energy Ball: Psychic," I yelled, as Puff shot a dark purple ball of 
energy from its mouth. It happened to be of the Psychic element. I didn't 
know how this was possible, but Puff was the only one that could do it. The 
ball of energy hit Machamp full on, but using his muscles, he back flipped 
up from it, though severely damaged. Machamp was quite shaky on his feet, 
and I assumed that one more attack would do it.
	"Machamp, Fissure," Bruno commanded, with his Machamp sending a zigzagging 
line in the ground heading directly for Puff. I knew what would knock 
Machamp out for good. Machamp had been battling four out of my five pokemon, 
you know.
	"Puff, Extremespeed," I roared at my dragon pokemon. In a flash, Puff was 
gone. The next second, all everybody could see was Machamp rammed into the 
wall, finally knocked out.
	"I know when I've lost," Bruno muttered. Even though he about a foot taller 
than me, I felt that he looked up to me as he recalled his fainted Machamp. 
I, however, ran up and jumped in Puff's arms. We both felt that this was one 
of our greatest achievements, better than even being Pokemon League 
Champion, being one step closer to defeating Lance for good. I walked out of 
the stadium, when Josie caught up with me and jumped around me.
	"You won," Josie exclaimed, holding "Robbie" in the other arm that wasn't 
around my shoulder. "You were amazing, too! I just couldn't believe it. What 
was going through your mind? Where did your pokemon learn all those nifty 
attacks? Tell me everything!"
	"I would like too, Josie, I really would," I said. "But I have to go to 
bed, and get a good night's sleep. I have to fight Agatha, tomorrow, you 
know."
	"Yeah," Josie said, sounding kind of disappointed. "Just become the Pokemon 
League Champion, and I'll be happy!" She had grown not just attached to me, 
but also "Robbie." I was afraid that it would crush her when I left without 
a reason or a trace.
	We walked back to the PokeCenter where we were staying, put "Robbie" in his 
crib, and I got into bed, lying there and thinking about what I had ahead of 
me tomorrow. It's amazing how many enemies you can get from just being 
Pokemon League Champion when you're just sixteen years old. Agatha, being 
one of my enemies. I just didn't know what to do anymore. I guess the only 
thing that I could do was take it one day at a time...
-                                         End of Chapter Six                 
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