The Dragon Master IV: Chapter Fourteen

	The five Masters that had just walked out of the Palace of the Elite Four 
came up to me. They removed their hoods, and I looked at Falkner, one who 
had stayed loyal to me from the beginning.
	"Why did you stay," I asked him. The other ones had stayed with Lance when 
I first tried to take him on. Falkner, however, left, and went with me.
	"It's not what you think," Falkner said.
	"Then what is it," I retaliated.
	"He's right," Jimmy said, stepping forward to defend Falkner. "Remember 
when I said that we had a double-agent inside the League? Falkner was that 
double agent. He's been behind you from the beginning." I was relieved. I 
pulled out the Flying Ring, I handed it to Falkner. I also pulled out the 
Thunder Ring, and handed it to Lt. Surge. Pryce, Chuck, and Will looked 
offended.
	"Don't the three of us get an Elemental Ring," Chuck asked, totally 
offended.
	"Actually," I said. "No. Lorelei is the guardian of the Ice Ring, Bruno is 
the guardian of the Fighting Ring, and Sabrina is the guardian of the 
Psychic Ring"
	"But I'm in the Elite Four," Will protested. "Sabrina is just a Gym Leader! 
Since I have a higher ranking, I should be the guardian!"
	"Sabrina has shown great loyalty to me over the past years," I said. "I 
would even offer you First of the Elite Four, but we all know that she would 
never leave Saffron City behind."
	"That is correct," Sabrina said in her same solemn tone that she always 
used. I looked back at Will.
	"You see," I asked. "Will, you're a good guy, and you really helped me 
today. But I'm sorry, Sabrina is the guardian of the Psychic Ring." Will 
took a deep breath.
	"It's okay," he said, calming down. "It's not that big of a deal. I'm just 
glad this is all over and-"
	"It's not over," I said. "Lance will find a way to come back...somehow. 
He's had all these plans just in case one of his failed. Why can't he have 
one more?" Will nodded.
	"I assume that you will make your statement to both Kanto and Johto soon," 
Koga said. "You know, that Ash was behind it all."
	"Lance was behind it all," I corrected Koga. "Ash was just a pawn in Lance 
and my game of chess. But yes, I will make my statement now." I walked 
inside of the Palace of the Elite Four, and went to the room where the 
Pokemon League Champion made all his announcements.
	I sat down on my chair, and turned on the transmitter. I cleared my throat, 
and prepared what I was going to say to the nations.
	"Hello," I said. "It is me, Bob Shepardson. I never died, it was just a 
lie. The Man in the Black Cloak, or the Black Trench Coat, was no one other 
than Lance...in a Dark Master's body.
	"It is, therefore, my great sadness that the Dark Master was no other than 
Ash Ketchum, a good friend of mine, and an ally of mine since I became the 
Pokemon League Champion three years ago. I send out my regrets to all who 
knew him and cherished him. Ash Ketchum.
	"As of this moment, the house arrest has been lifted, and you people shall 
now go about your daily lived as you did before. This has been a very bad 
ending to a very terrible strain of events. I wish you all peace." I turned 
the transmitter off. I had to go down to Pallet Town as soon as possible. 
Sabrina looked at me pointedly. I nodded.
	"Teleport," Sabrina whispered. Her and I went off to Pallet Town. We landed 
right in front of Delia Ketchum's home. Delia was Ash's mother. I went up to 
the door, and knocked. A tearful Delia came to the door. I looked into her 
face, but it was hard.
	"I'm sorry," I said in a solemn tone. She fell forward, and I caught her in 
my arms. She was sobbing uncontrollably in my arms at the loss of her only 
son, and her only child.
	After I had spent some time with Delia, and explained to her what had 
happened, I departed to Indigo Plateau. There, I went to my room, and went 
to Misty. She was sitting in a chair by the fire, and looking at a picture 
of Ash. I went over to her and put my hand on her shoulder.
	"He was my best friend for all of those years," Misty asked, tears silently 
falling down her cheeks. "How could he?"
	"He was driven by the thought of you," I explained. "He wanted me out of 
the way...by any means necessary..."
	"Bob," Misty said, putting the picture of Ash away and standing up to face 
me. "Let's put off the wedding for a while. You know?"
	"I know," I said. "And I will wait. I waited for that long while I was 
away, so I suppose that I could wait a bit longer."
	"Good," Misty said. "I just want to wait while because...because it 
wouldn't feel right to get married so soon after one of our friends died."
	"I agree totally," I said. "By the way, the funeral for Ash is tomorrow." 
She nodded, and I left the room. I knew how much Ash meant to her. He meant 
a lot to me, too. He was a very good friend of mine.
	Before I could think about what I was going to do about this, I had five 
little things to take care of. I took off to Ecruteak City. I landed by the 
Burned Tower. Walking down the stairs to where I had fallen two years ago, I 
went up to the platform where I had found and released the three Legendary 
Dogs. Pulling out the three pokeballs that contained them, I set them free 
on the raised area that I had found them on in the first place. They all 
looked at me for a second, and then I crushed their pokeballs, setting them 
free. In an instant, they were turned back into stone, from whence they 
came.
	"It's been fun," I saluted them as I flew out of the tower, and up to the 
top of the Tin Tower. I picked out the pokeball that contained Ho-oh. 
Walking down the staircase to Ho-oh's chamber, I released it. As long as the 
Legendary Dogs were in place, Ho-oh was confounded to this place. I crushed 
Ho-oh's pokeball in my palm.
	"See you later, Ho-oh," I said as I walked up to the roof and flew off to 
the Whirl Islands. I hovered above the cave where I had found Lugia. I threw 
the pokeball out into the air, and Lugia was released. Lugia dived down into 
the depths of the water where it belonged. The pokeball returned to my hand, 
and I crushed it.
	"Bye," I said quietly as I flew off towards Indigo Plateau for the night.
	I didn't sleep well that night, for the thought loomed over me that I was 
the one killed Ash. The next morning I woke up not tired at all, even though 
I had not gotten a wink of sleep the night before. I called a teal ninja 
suit, and my teal cloak. The funeral wasn't too long away now. I was giving 
the eulogy, and I had no idea what to say. I decided to just go out there 
and talk about the Ash that I once knew.
	The funeral went on as planned, but people looked confused. They did not 
know whether to be happy, because an evil ruler was killed, or to be sad, 
because Ash was a friend with everyone, and he died. I went up to the pulpit 
to speak. Clearing my throat, I looked out to all who had come. I opened my 
mouth, but the words wouldn't come out. I wanted to say every swear word in 
the book about Ash because he separated me from Misty from so long. But 
another side of me wanted to say how good of a friend Ash was to me over the 
past years. Both sides were conflicting each, and I didn't know which one 
would come out.
	"I've known Ash for about three years," I started. "Over that period of 
time, he's helped me with many things. As many of you know, he helped me 
defeat the League back when Lance ruled it in corruption. After we won, Ash 
stayed loyal to me, even though he would rather have himself be Pokemon 
League Champion. But who can blame him? Let the one who has never wished to 
have this job cast the first stone.
	"Ash has been amazingly well putting up with me over these past few years. 
When we first met, he was extremely cordial to me. After we spent some time 
together, he became one of my best friends. I wish he were still alive 
today. Thank you." I stepped down from the pulpit, and sat down next to 
Misty. She gripped my arm and smiled at me. I smiled back.
	When the funeral was over, there was a meal back in the hall, but the 
others Masters and I waited in the Master's Cemetery to watch Ash be 
lowered. As I watched him being lowered, I remembered all the good times 
that I had had with him. I wanted to leave him remembering of the good, not 
the evil. After the body had been lowered, two men with shovels put the dirt 
back on top of him. I started to walk away, but caught sight of Bruno. He 
was crying. I went over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.
	"What's the matter," I asked him.
	"I've been thinking about my wife," Bruno said, pulling a picture out of 
his cloak. He handed me the picture. It was a picture of a beautiful woman, 
and Bruno behind her, his strong arms wrapped around her.
	"She's beautiful," I said.
	"Tell me about it," Bruno said. "It was about six years ago. I went out on 
a mission for Lance. Molly and I had only been married for three years. 
Anyway, I kissed her goodbye, and while I was gone, someone attacked the 
League. I came back as soon as possible. The Palace of the Elite Four was 
nearly destroyed, and Molly was killed in the attack. Someone had shot her, 
or so Lance had said. He claimed that he tried to save her, but these were 
his early years, so he might've been telling the truth. Molly was the only 
one left inside of the building. She didn't have a chance..." I gave the 
picture back to Bruno, and he must've realized where he was, for he stopped 
crying that instant. He wiped the tears from his face, and went inside the 
hall to eat. I felt so sorry. I didn't know that how Bruno's wife died until 
that day. I hoped that I would never lose Misty.
	"Bob," Misty said, coming up to me. "This just came in the mail for you. 
The mailman said that this letter was to be rushed to you if you became 
champion again. There's no return address." I opened the letter. It read:

Bob,
	So you've beaten me. Congratulations. Honestly, if it came down to it, I'm 
not sure I could've killed you. It would've made Misty cry. You know that I 
wouldn't want to see that...ever. I hope you two have a very happy life 
together. But I have some things to ask of you.
	Take care of Misty. Cherish her forever. You know she means the world to 
me, and I know that she means to world to you. We're just two fools in love. 
Marry her soon, and treat her like a queen. You know I would.
	Watch over Mom. She didn't deserve to see this. I never wanted her to see 
this. Tell her that I'm sorry for what I did to her.
	There is a couple more things that I want to touch on before I let you live 
on with your life.
	First and most importantly of all, it was just as much my fault as it was 
Lance's. I let him in, but he took it too far. I was never going to kidnap 
Misty, but once Lance did it, it could not be undone. It should have never 
gone this far.
	Second thing, maybe just as important as the first, is that I would like to 
say I'm sorry. I'm sorry what I did to you. I'm sorry what I forced all of 
Kanto and Johto to go through. I'm sorry for what I did to all the Masters 
who were involved with this.
	Last thing, I swear. Good luck, Bob. I hope that you are never beaten, so 
the best Pokemon League Champion will stay. I hope, somehow, we meet again. 
Until then,

						Ash Ketchum, The Dark Master
	I looked at the letter, and then folded it, placing it in my cloak. Misty 
looked at me.
	"Who was it from," she asked curiously.
	"An old friend," I smiled. She giggled, and how I missed that laugh. I drew 
her into a kiss, and then we broke apart.
	"Any ideas," she asked.
	"For what," I replied, and it was my turn to be curious.
	"For a wedding date," she said.
	"I don't know," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Why don't we wait awhile?"
	"That's just what I was thinking," Misty said, and I pulled her into 
another kiss. I looked deep into her eyes.
	"I love you," I said quietly.
	"I love you, too," Misty said, leaning into me. "Bob, how happy do you 
think we'll be when we get married?"
	"It'll be paradise," I said. "Paradise with many hardships...Misty, no 
matter what, I will always love you."
	"I will always love you," she said. It had been a cloudy day so far, but 
the sun had come out because I told it to. The two of us just sat there, 
basking in the warmth of it, soaking it up, for we had not felt warmth and 
happiness for a long while. Also, it made me feel better about that letter I 
got from Ash. I would do as he said, and cherish Misty forever. No matter 
what...
-                                         End of Chapter Fourteen            
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-                                    End of The Dragon Master IV             
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