The Dragon Master III: Chapter Nine

	When the bright light had faded, and the remaining dust had cleared, 
everybody in the stadium looked upon the scene of the two pokemon. 
Feraligatr was lying unconscious on the ground, knocked out. But nobody was 
cheering. The announcer up in the box looked stumped, not knowing what to 
say. For Puff was also unconscious, lying on the ground. It was a tie. 
Neither of us had won, which could only mean one thing. And that thing 
was...
	"A hand-to-hand combat battle," Marchello explained. "The Dragon Master and 
I shall fight, no pokemon. Whichever one of us flees or lies unconscious, 
will lose, and the other one shall win! Nice job, Feraligatr, return." With 
a thin beam of light, Feraligatr was returned to his pokeball to rest.
	"You did good, Puff," I congratulated my pokemon. "You did your part. Now 
it's my turn to do mine..." I recalled Puff back into his pokeball, and put 
my pokeballs within my cloak. Simultaneously, Marchello and I removed our 
cloaks with one hand, and dropped them on the floor. My eyes glowed teal, 
and my clothes changed. I became dressed in a teal cut-off T-shirt, some 
sweatpants, and a pair of teal fingerless fighting gloves. On my feet I wore 
a thin teal shoe, which hardly did anything for them.
	"LET THE BATTLE BEGIN," roared the announcer, and the crowd cheered. I 
sprinted as fast as I possibly could towards Marchello, and he did the same 
to me. Inches from him, I jumped up in the air, and kicked him in the back. 
He fell face first on the ground, but flipped back up immediately with his 
hands. We then went into several rounds of punching, kicking and parrying. 
Neither of us got a hit of on the other. I had to retreat. I back flipped 
away from him, and pulled the Elemental Medallion out of my shirt.
	"Sunny Day," I yelled, forcing the sun to shine brightly. "Grass Shard of 
the Elemental Medallion, Solarbeam!" On my command, a beam of pure grass 
energy shot out of the Grass Shard, nailing Marchello in the chest. I had to 
strike again, without warning.
	"What the hell is that," Marchello gasped, getting up from the position 
that he was in after he was hit.
	"Ice Shard of the Elemental Medallion, Blizzard," I commanded. Ice flew out 
of the Shard on command, heading towards Marchello. I put the Medallion back 
inside my shirt, and followed suit.
	"What sorcery is this," Tony asked in rage. Red-hot sparks flew out of his 
hand, melting the ice, and turning it into water.
	"One of a kind," I replied. I called my teal katana to my hands, and he 
called a weapon of his own. He called a black katana, blacker than even 
Ash's katana. Our curved swords clashed, creating a whole bunch of noise. 
Neither of us was paying attention, as both of us were fixed on the other 
one.
	"WHO THE HELL IS THAT MANIAC ON TOP OF THE ARENA," the announcer shouted in 
wonder. Both Tony and I stopped fighting to look at who was standing on top 
of the arena. I heard a soft chuckling that was awfully familiar...
	"Hello, once again, Bob," Lance said while he was standing on the top of 
the arena. "It has been a long time, hasn't it? I've let you go along your 
own little pathetic business for too long. But now, it's time for the 
miniature you to die." He faced directly where Josie and "Robbie" were 
standing in the crowd. He generated his lance; I called my wings, and took 
off for Josie. Lance threw his lance directly for Josie and "Robbie." The 
lance was traveling faster than I was, and I was farther away in the first 
place. I was ten feet from Josie and "Robbie."
	"Josie, look out," I called, and she looked at me. She saw the lance headed 
for "Robbie," so she turned her back towards the lance. The lance hit her 
directly in her back, and she fell over, still protecting the baby. Lance 
saw the mistake he had made, so he flew off somewhere. I went up to Josie, 
and looked her in the eyes.
	"Bob," Josie said weakly. There was a puddle of blood seeping its way 
around her, and she didn't even notice. But she still knew that she was 
going to die.
	"Josie, please don't die," I pleaded with her. She looked at me, and 
stroked my cheek.
	"Before I go," she said. "Let me tell you who John's father is. I'm not 
sure if this will matter to you or not. I met him at Viridian City High 
School. His name was Giovanni…" My heart felt like it stopped. But hers 
really did.
	A small crowd gathered around the body of Josie and me. They all looked so 
sad, though none of them knew her at all. I picked up her body in one arm, 
and "Robbie" in the other.
	"Please get out of my way," I asked quietly. The crowd parted leaving way 
for me to pass through. I was thinking heavily about her last words. 
Giovanni was John Flargini's father. Giovanni was my father. I had killed my 
half-brother. After I had killed Lance, I had made a vow to myself: Never 
kill my own flesh and blood. I had broken that vow without even knowing it.
	An ambulance took me to Viridian City, where Josie was going to be buried, 
as that was where her parents lived. I was thinking about was Josie had 
said. She had said that Giovanni was the father of John. That would mean 
that he and I were half-brothers. The more I thought about it, the more I 
thought about how unlikely that was. But I had to find out for myself.
	Josie was left at the funeral home, while I went in search of her parents, 
to tell them the news. I finally found them, well, I found their house. I 
walked up to the door, and rang the doorbell. A woman in her mid-forties 
came out of the house and looked at me.
	"May I help you, young man," she asked. She didn't know. She didn't even 
know that her only child was dead. I knew that Josie was an only child 
because she told me.
	"There is some bad news," I said. She immediately gasped.
	"Did my husband die on the job," she asked.
	"No, and why would he," I asked her.
	"My husband is a cop," she explained. "But, please, tell me what you know. 
Better yet, come in and I will make you coffee." I followed her in, and she 
led me to a couch. I sat down, wondering how I was going to explain this to 
her. She poured me a cup of coffee and sat in the chair opposite me.
	"Mrs. Flargini, I presume," I assumed, hoping that I wasn't wrong.
	"Yes," she said. "Is the thing that you have to say difficult?" My stomach 
sank even lower, if that was possible.
	"It's about your daughter," I said, "Josie-"
	"Is she pregnant again," Mrs. Flargini asked exasperatedly. "She was always 
the one to go sleeping around. And I'm supposing that you're the father of 
this one. That baby in your arms must be my grandson." I looked at her in 
awe. Now I wondered if she would even care.
	"No," I said. "On all three accounts. Number one, Josie is not pregnant. 
Number two, her and I only knew each other for five days, and I already have 
a girlfriend. And number three, this is not your grandson, John. This is my 
little brother, and your grandson is an orphan in Lavender Town."
	"Well, then what's the matter, dear boy," she asked, sounding like she was 
sorry that she had accused me of some thing that I did not do.
	"Josie is dead," I said. Mrs. Flargini clapped her hands to her mouth in 
shock. She acted like she wouldn't even believe it. she came to terms with 
it, and asked me the question that I wished she would not.
	"How," she asked, with her hands still over her mouth.
	"She was murdered accidentally," I explained. "If you were watching the 
Pokemon Finals yesterday, you would have seen me battling the Leader of the 
Elite Four. However, a murderous psycho, whom I regret to say that I know, 
tried to kill the baby that is in my arms. The baby was with her at the 
time. She shielded the baby from the lance that was thrown at her, dieing to 
save an innocent life..." I broke off, choking up. I wiped my eyes on my 
cloak, and got up.
	"Oh my God," she said. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Josie died to save 
a baby?" I nodded my head.
	"The funeral will be tomorrow," I told her. "At the funeral home down the 
street. Nine o'clock tomorrow morning. She would have loved it if you and 
your husband would be there. One of the last things that she said to me was: 
'My parents never did accept my baby and me. So they kicked me out of the 
house. I just wanted to know if they love me...'" I called my cloak, and 
walked out the door. However, the door opened, and the man I assumed who was 
Josie's father stepped through the door.
	"Are you the asshole that got my daughter pregnant," he asked in rage. I 
simply turned to his crying wife who was still sitting on the chair.
	"I'll let your wife explain to you," I said coldly. I brushed passed him 
and walked out the door, headed for the PokeCenter.
	The next morning it rained, simply because I wanted it to. I was in a sad 
mood that day. I was thinking about all the death that I had experienced in 
my life, and I realized that Josie was one of the best friends I ever knew. 
There were many people there, though the only ones that I knew were Josie's 
parents. The service went on, and when it was done, everybody left 
immediately. I, however, stayed where I was, until I walked up to the 
casket.
	"I'll never be able to repay you, Josie," I spoke. "You gave your life for 
me. I cannot thank you enough. Though I just wish that there had been some 
other way..." I generated a teal rose from my hand, and placed it on top of 
the casket. At the same moment, I noticed another hand reaching out, placing 
an identical rose on the casket, except that it was brown in color. I looked 
up, and found myself staring into the dark mask of a man in a brown hooded 
cloak, mostly likely a Ground Master.
	"I never thought that our paths would meet more than once," Giovanni said, 
removing his hood.
	"Tell me one thing," I said, ignoring his statement. "Did you have a child 
with this woman?" He looked at me, not expecting that.
	"Well, we did," he admitted. "Though I didn't stick around during the 
pregnancy nor the delivery." I looked at him with the utmost hatred.
	"You cheated on Lorelei," I said, rage obvious from my voice. "You fooled 
around behind her back. She trusted you. But you betrayed her."
	"What are you gonna do about it," he asked, cocky.
	"Get out of my sight," I said, as my eyes turned silver. "I don't ever want 
to see you ever again as long as I live, you son of a bitch." He backed 
away, and then walked out of the cemetery.
	"You handled that well," said a voice behind me. My eyes turned back to 
normal. I whipped around, and saw who was standing there. It was the old man 
that I had met in the PokeCenter right before my match with Agatha.
	"Who are you," I asked. I had completely forgot about him. I still was 
craving to know who he was, and what he wanted with me.
	"Once The Evil One is defeated, then you shall see my face and know my 
name," he explained. "Until that time, my identity remains a complete secret 
to you and the rest of the world." I looked at him, still thinking about our 
deal.
	"What do I need to do to defeat Lance," I asked him. He paced for a little 
bit, and then he finally told me something.
	"Use the Psychic Shard," he explained. "That will give you the power to 
locate him with your mind." I grabbed the Medallion out of my cloak, and 
concentrated on the Psychic Shard.
	"Psychic Shard of the Elemental Medallion," I chanted. "Lend me your power 
locate Lance!" Immediately, my mind felt like it was being sucked out. 
Through my mind's eye, I was seeing many things, for the Psychic Shard was 
looking all over through Kanto and Johto for Lance. When the rushing 
stopped, it was a picture of Lance being airborne, and headed for the Palace 
of the Elite Four.
	"Go now," the odd man said, and I took flight towards the Palace of the 
Elite Four. I ran past the security guards, without them noticing. I went to 
the room that belonged to Tony Marchello. I entered the room, and Lance was 
standing there, with his lance, and Marchello was creating a time portal for 
him.
	"NO," I cried. "However, Lance had already jumped through it, and the 
portal closed. "Send me to the exact time and place that you sent him! NOW!" 
With a snap of his fingers, a portal appeared, and I dived through it, not 
sure where I was going.
	When I came out of the portal, I could see Saffron City off the cliff that 
I was on. I suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu again.
	"DIE NOW," Lance yelled, running at me from behind. He tackled me, forcing 
both of us off the cliff. I then realized that Lance and I were the two 
figures that I had seen falling off the cliff when I was last in Saffron 
City. I heard an explosion, and that was Lance and I escaping from the Gym 
with a Hyper Blast provided by me.
	"I NEVER GIVE UP," I shouted back, kicking him in the stomach and calling 
my wings. Lance fell to the ground, and I landed near him. He called his 
lance, and I called my teal katana. We were circling around each other, 
ready to fight. I had a huge disadvantage as I was holding a baby in one of 
my arms, while he could use both freely.
	"No matter how hard I try," Lance said. "You always win. It's time for that 
to change." I looked at him with a smirk on my face.
	"No it won't, and it will always remain that way," I replied. In rage, he 
ran towards me, lance ready to strike. He stabbed, and I blocked with my 
katana. I swiped, and he parried with his lance. This went on for some time, 
until he called his wings and flew high in the sky.
	"Catch me if you can," Lance teased, flying higher each second. I called my 
wings and tore after him. He took a sharp turn down into the trees, me 
following closely behind him. I then noticed where he was flying. He was 
headed directly for a portal, and standing next to the portal was a man 
wearing a deep purple cloak covered in moons and stars. It was a time 
portal. Lance was traveling somewhere in time, and I had to follow him. 
Lance went right into the portal, but I had to kill this Mysticman first. My 
eyes turned bright silver, and a ball of silver energy formed in my hand. I 
whipped it at the Mysticman, killing him on impact.
	"Now to kill you," I yelled in rage at Lance. He merely laughed and 
continued flying through the portal. I followed him, not knowing where, or 
more importantly, when we were going. I just flew through the portal. Only 
having experienced this two times before, I felt a sensation traveling 
through my body like I had before. I continued to fly blindly into the abyss 
of time...
-                                         End of Chapter Nine                
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