The Dragon Master IV: Chapter Four

	Before the man could fire his Shadow Blast, the man who was earlier 
protecting his family dived at the man in the trench coat. Once the man hit 
the black-coated man, the man in the black trench coat evaporated into wisps 
of black smoke, along with his ninjas. The man had just performed a perfect 
drop kick, which was rare for anyone to perform without years of training. 
Brian and Dave woke up, and the man walked over to me, his face hidden in 
his hood.
	"You look familiar," the man said.
	"You sound familiar," I replied to him.
	"It can't be," said the man, stepping back. "You are supposed to be dead!" 
He was still backing away slowly.
	"It was a lie," I said, flat out. "I left on a mission to get Misty back, 
and the League was taken over in my absence. All of the other Masters were 
summoned to the League, but for what reason, I don't know."
	"We were," said the man. "And I do know." The man pulled off the hood of 
his forest cloak and I immediately recognized him.
	"Koga," I exclaimed, breathless. The woman in the corner stood up, heaving 
her daughter to her shoulder. She also had a forest cloak on, and she 
removed her hood.
	"Master Koga," Brian said, kneeling.
	"Mistress Aya," Dave said, also kneeling.
	"I'm afraid not anymore," Koga said.
	"What do you mean," I asked my friend, not sure I wanted to know the 
answer. Koga sighed deeply.
	"You haven't heard," Koga said. "Will was beaten nearly to death. They 
wanted him to do something, but we didn't know what. All of us Masters were 
locked in the same room for days. Finally, Will came back to us. But he had 
changed. He had agreed to work with the man in that black trench coat. Will 
used his Mystic powers to take something from us; something that they now 
possess of most of the Masters'.
	"Your Mastery," I said in awe.
	"Exactly," Aya nodded, shifting her child. "Some Masters agreed to stay 
with the League, because they would rather stay with an evil, corruptive, 
murdering League, than lose their Mastery."
	"Which ones," I asked, hatred welling up inside of me.
	"We don't know," Koga said, shrugging his shoulders. "They had two pieces 
of paper. One was to stay with the League, not under you control, and the 
other to get your Mastery taken from you. It was a secret ballot; I did not 
know who stayed and who went. After everybody voted, the ones who voted to 
leave were stripped of their Mastery and put in separate cells. That's where 
Grace came in at." He gestured at the girl that Aya was holding.
	"Grace ran away from her home right before the League was taken over," Aya 
said. "She ended up at the League cells that we were being held in. Grace 
and I devised a way to get us out of there. After I got out, the two of us 
rescued Koga. We ran as fast as we possibly could, and we've been hiding 
here for two days. How did you wind up here?"
	"I ran away from the League," I admitted, ashamed. "I found this disguise 
in the Radio Tower. But, I was caught and taken to the Underground. Dave, 
Brian, and I started a riot and escaped. We took a League Jeep and drove 
into the Ilex Forest. We found a tunnel, and it led us to here." Dave and 
Brian had finally gotten up from their knees.
	"We know that Misty is alive," Koga said. "We saw her in her cell as we 
left. There were guards all over that cell. She was in the maximum-security 
cell. There was no way to get her out without being killed...I'm sorry, Bob. 
She didn't look too good. I doubt that she'll last much longer..." Koga 
bowed his head, and Aya looked towards the sky, as if she was looking for 
some signal that would end this war.
	"Who are these two," Aya asked.
	"This is Dave and Brian," I said, acknowledging them with a gesture of my 
hand. "They were also trapped in the Underground. They left with me."
	"What's our next move," asked Koga.
	"I don't know," I said.
	"We can't just stand here," Koga cried. "They may have already killed 
Janine! I am her father, and I will protect her!"
	"There's nothing we can do now, Koga," I shouted back. "I want my fiancé 
back, too, but it might not happen!" A note fell from the sky fast, and 
landed in front of me. I read the note frantically. It read:

Bob,
	Tick, tock, tick, tock. The clock is winding down on your whore. I'm sure 
that you recognize that ring. It's the one you gave her when you had been 
dating for a year. Lance did not know that Will was part Mysticman, but now 
Will is the only Mysticman left on the planet. Will has put a Curse on 
Misty. Every day that she is not relieved of the Curse, she dies a little 
more. More and more, her life dwindles away. I hear her cry at night for 
you, Bob. She has nearly given up hope. She most likely only has two weeks 
left, at the very most. Then, she will die, and you will want to, also. I 
will have won, and Kanto and Johto will be all mine! Until then,

						The Man in the Black Trench Coat

	In anger, I tore the paper up. I looked at the ring in my palm, and then I 
stuck it on my pinky finger, because it wouldn't fit on any other one.
	"Let's go," I cried, moving to the ladder that led out of Slowpoke Well. 
Koga grabbed me.
	"Are you crazy," Koga asked. "They'll kill us all!"
	"Misty will die soon if I don't do something," I said with my teeth 
clenched. "If she does die, he will win, and the League is his to run. I 
don't give a damn what you do. But I am going to save her. That is that!" I 
walked up the ladder, and looked around. I lifted myself out, and 
double-checked. I heard someone coming up the ladder.
	"I'm coming with you," Koga said, pulling himself up.
	"Us too," said Dave and Brian.
	"Wherever Koga goes," Aya said. "Grace and I go with him. We will find 
Misty for you." I smiled. I have allies, I thought. Maybe I have a shot at 
beating this guy after all.
	"Let's move out," I said, throwing my hand in the direction of Union Cave. 
The six of us entered the cave, and we walked until we grew weary. We 
reached the end of the cave, and set up camp. I said that I would keep 
watch, and warn them if anybody was coming.
	"I'll switch with you sometime," said Koga. "Just wake me up when you're 
ready." I nodded to him, and then walked off by myself. I sat down on a log, 
and started to think about Misty. A clap of thunder and lightening dances 
across the sky.
	"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME," I shouted to the sky. But, a voice answered me.
	"Your life," said a ridiculously deep voice. I turned around, and the 
Thunder Master, Lt. Surge, was standing there in front of me. He was wearing 
a yellow cloak, and his eyes were bright yellow.
	"I see that you agreed to stay with the League," I said.
	"Yeah," Lt. Surge said, cocky. "They told me that you were still alive once 
I signed with them. Koga and Aya escaped, and I am here bring them back. 
But, once my Master finds out that you are here, too, he will reward me by 
putting at his right hand side!"
	"Over my dead body," I said.
	"If it must turn out that way," Lt. Surge said, cracking his knuckles. 
Electricity danced across his fist, and I called my teal katana with its 
silver hilt. He called his double-axe created out of pure thunder. I slashed 
him across his burly chest, forcing him to cry out in pain.
	"Looks like I drew first blood," I said, twirling around my katana in 
circles.
	"YOU SON OF A BITCH," Surge yelled, charging at me. I stepped aside, and 
Lt. Surge fell flat on his face.
	"No one ever insults Delilah," I said, getting angry.
	"I wasn't just insulting her," Surge said. "I was also insulting that 
bitch, Lorelei! Will, now!" A wind picked up, and Will descended from the 
sky, clothed in a deep purple cloak embroidered with yellow stars and moons.
	"Hi, Bob," Will said, holding up his hand. "Bye, Bob." Will's eyes glowed 
black, and mine glowed teal. Black beams shot out of his eyes, connected 
with mine, and drew back. Will shot two more beams into his hands, this time 
teal, and my Dragon Mastery was in his hand. My katana disappeared, and I 
fell to the ground, flat on my face. Lt. Surge was about to pick me up, but 
Koga rushed to my rescue. He pulled a silver katana from a sheath on his 
belt, and sliced Will's hand.
	"Teleport," Will said, touching Surge to make him go with him. With that, 
Will left with my mastery...The Dragon Mastery.
	"Are you okay, Bob," Koga asked me.
	"He took my Dragon Mastery," I said, feeling weak.
	"I know," said Koga, almost like the father I never had. He picked me up 
and carried me back to the camp, where everybody else was waiting to see 
what had happened. When Koga told them, Dave was the first to speak up.
	"Great," he said. "Now we had no Masters at all." A thought popped into my 
head.
	"We may not have any Masters," I said. "But we do have this!" I pulled out 
a bag from my pocket. Out spilled eighteen Elemental Shards, but they 
weren't connected.
	"Why aren't they connected," Aya asked.
	"They can only be connected by a Master," I said, putting them back into a 
pouch, and sticking it back on my belt.
	"Where are we headed next," Koga asked.
	"Violet City," I said. "Once we get there, we will head to Ecruteak City, 
where Brian will stay with his family. Then, we will head to Olivine City, 
and drop off Dave."
	"When are we gonna leave," Koga asked.
	"Well, since they know where we are, we should leave now," I said. "But I 
don't have a cloak or anything. I'm not disguised at all. They will spot us 
right away if they see me without a disguise."
	"I have a forest cloak," Koga said. He pulled a brown cloak from his bag 
and threw it at me. I checked my bag more closely, and discovered a pair of 
jeans, and a teal cutoff shirt. I slipped them on, put on the forest cloak, 
and we were ready to go. I took a quick look outside of the clearing, and 
then gestured them out. Koga tapped on my shoulder, and I talked to him 
without turning my head.
	"What," I asked him.
	"Take this," Koga said, handing me a katana in a sheath. I stuck it to my 
belt, and walked out carefully. The other five followed me.
	We walked along that route, and I remembered my training days. Anything 
that I remembered from before I had my Mastery could be useful...
......................................*Flashback*..............................................
	"Puff, I choose you," I called. I was eleven years old, and I was 
challenging the gym leader of Ecruteak City. It was down to Puff and a 
Gengar. The Gym Leader was Morty's father, Ben.
	"Gengar, if you defeat this Dratini, that's one less badge we have to hand 
out," Ben cried. "Shadow Ball!" Gengar's eyes glowed black, and a ball of 
light lavender energy shot out. Puff dodged it, and that was all the more 
energy that Gengar had wasted.
	"Puff, Ice Beam," I shouted. Puff opened its mouth, and cold ice shot out 
of it. Gengar jumped, but its foot got caught with ice, making it fall back 
to the ground.
	"Dragons are weak to ice," Ben shouted. "Ice Punch, Gengar!" Gengar ran as 
fast as it allowed it to run. With its icy fist, Gengar nailed Puff with a 
strong uppercut. A right, a left, the icy beating didn't stop. Puff landed 
in front of me, and the referee started to raise a flag.
	"The winner of this match is-," the ref shouted before he saw what was 
happening. Puff was glowing a bright white. It was growing bigger, and 
bigger. Puff was evolving!
	"DRAAAAA," Puff, now a Dragonair, sounded. Without my command, Puff let out 
an intense Dragonbreath. The attack hit Gengar, and he fainted.
	"The challenger wins," the referee shouted. The small crowd in the Gym was 
in awe at what they had just seen. A rare pokemon had just evolved into an 
even rarer pokemon! I received the badge from Ben, and I walked out of the 
Gym. As I did so, I noticed a red-haired boy about my age walk into a house. 
I took a quick look at the mailbox, and it read: Mysticman Tony Marchello.
	"Probably just visiting an uncle," I said aloud to myself as I walked off 
to the PokeCenter.
	I snapped back to reality, and just realized, after six years, who that was 
and who he was visiting. That was John Flargini, my half brother, visiting 
Tony Marchello, the former Pokemon League Champion, and Will's father. He 
was going to receive lessons about becoming a Mysticman. Flargini learned 
all he knew from Tony Marchello. I bowed my head, and wondered how someone 
so good could educate someone to be so evil...
	"Bob," Koga said quietly, nudging me slightly. "We're in Violet City. Keep 
a lookout for guards." I snapped out of my trance of my memories. I suddenly 
realized that my only good memories were with Misty. With God as my witness, 
I would get her back.
	We walked through town. I may not have my Dragon Mastery, but I still have 
a reflexes. With a hand on the katana that Koga had given me, I kept a 
lookout for any enemy. A flash of light zoomed across the ground. Quickly, I 
assumed the angle of the sun and the light of the ground. I turned left, and 
held my katana between my eyes. A silver throwing knife hit the broad side 
of my katana before falling to the ground.
	"They're everywhere," I whispered loud enough for just my group to hear. A 
shadow shifted in an alleyway. Brian and Dave were becoming increasingly 
edgy. A dart flew out of nowhere, heading for Dave. Brian tackled Dave, and 
Dave was not hit. I looked at the dart, sniffed it, and threw it on the 
ground.
	"What was that," Dave asked.
	"Tranquilizer dart," I said. "You'd be out cold in less than a minute. We 
have to keep moving. Let's go." Dave drew his gun. Brian got his machine gun 
ready. I preferred my katana, so my handgun remained in my pocket. It was 
out of bullets, anyway, so it would be of no use. Another shadow shifted, 
but this one was on the rooftop. I heard a loud, piercing whistling above 
us.
	"Run," Koga said. He didn't shout it, but he just spoke it. We all ran, and 
Dave dropped his gun in his hurry. But Brian tripped. I noticed and ran 
back. I looked up, and a missile blew up a building behind Brian. It toppled 
on him, and I quickly tried to dig him out.
	"BRIAN," I shouted. I threw of rocks until I found him. He was covered in 
blood, and he was even spitting up blood.
	"Go," he said weakly.
	"I'm not leaving," I said defiantly.
	"If you don't, they'll all die," Brian said. "And he will win. Remember who 
you're doing this for. Not just Misty, not just yourself, but for Kanto and 
Johto."
	"I'm taking you with me," I shouted.
	"No...you're not," Brian said. Brian took the gun the Dave had dropped. 
Before I could stop him, Brian had put the gun to his head and squeezed the 
trigger. I was in shock. I picked up the gun, and a felt someone pulling on 
my forest cloak.
	"Let's go," Koga persisted. "We have to get out of here!" I got up, and the 
two of us started running. I never took my eyes off Brian, and another 
explosion soon riddled the pile or rubble that Brian was lying in. Bullets 
hammered the ground behind us, until we reached the Violet City Gym. When I 
went in, Koga barred the door.
	"Where's Brian," Dave said immediately. I tried to tell him, but I choked 
up. The gun in my hand told the beginning. And the blood on my hand told the 
rest.
	"Oh my God," Aya said, nearly dropping Grace.
	"If I had my Mastery, I COULD HAVE SAVED HIM," I yelled the last part. I 
ran to the door, took off the bar, and ran down the street. I shot 
everywhere, and I was not hit. I can't die, I thought. I have to avenge his 
death. Koga once again pulled me from danger. Again, Koga pulled me in the 
Gym and pushed me down to the floor.
	"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING," Koga yelled in my face. "YOU 
HAVE SEEMED TO FORGOTTEN WHY YOU ARE HERE! YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO YOU'RE UP 
AGAINST AND WHO YOU'RE TRYING TO SAVE!"
	"HOW MANY PEOPLE MUST DIE IN THE PROCESS," I yelled back, standing up. 
"TEN? A HUNDERED? A THOUSAND? TO SAVE ONE PERSON IS NOT ENOUGH REASON TO 
MAKE PEOPLE DIE! IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT!" Koga calmed down and sighed.
	"You truly have forgotten," Koga said, shaking his head. "You have 
forgotten that you are not saving just Misty, but Kanto and Johto in its 
entirety. You are one of the greatest Pokemon League Champions to ever live. 
You are one of the greatest Pokemon Masters to ever walk this earth. I knew 
a young man who took the job because he did not want the League to be 
corrupt. As far as I'm concerned, the young man died the day that he knew 
the League was not his to run any longer. You're a fool, Bob Shepardson. 
You're a fool, and you should keep your priorities in order. Brian is a 
casualty to a bitter war between good and evil. There have been millions. 
Sadly, there will continue to be many casualties between good and evil. Both 
Brian and Dave knew what they were getting into when you told them about 
this. It's not your fault, Bob. You need to continue to be the Pokemon 
League Champion. You may not hold the title right now, but that is because 
of a lie. We need to save the world from the grips of evil. You need to 
realize who you are fighting for. You are fighting for people like Brian, 
Dave, and the rest of the hardworking people in this world. If that evil son 
of a bitch wins, then Brian died in vain. Don't let that happen." Koga 
walked to a window, folded his arms, and looked out of it.
	"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered. "I've been doing this for revenge of John. Now, 
I need to do this for the people that could and are getting hurt. I think 
that it's time to round up some former Masters." Koga turned to me and 
nodded.
	"There's a secret passage behind the wall," Koga said, pointing to it. 
"That will take us to the Ruins of Alph." I ran over to the wall, and it 
opened. The five of us ran through it, and I pulled out the Fire Shard from 
the pouch.
	"Ember," I said, and a small fire came out of the Fire Shard and hovered 
around us. The small fire made the darkness flee.
	We walked, and we walked, and then we walked some more. After about an hour 
and a half, we came to an ending. There was a message in Unown writing on 
the wall. I had a sudden feeling of Déjà vu. It brought me back to the time 
when I was collecting the Elemental Shards to defeat my half-brother. The 
message said:

				You must be desperate
				To try and get through here.
				If you weren't,
				You would have no fear.
				The only access to this chamber
				Is the medallion that you once sought.
				You had to do many things,
				And many people you fought.
				Put the pieces in their slots,
				And the door will open for you.
				If you put them in the wrong spot,
				Death will be your cue.

	"What the hell," Dave said. Everyone ignored him, and I pulled out the 
pieces to the medallion. There were no marks besides a circle on the wall. I 
had to go by a puzzle. I knew where the Dragon Shard went, so I stuck that 
one there. The shard stuck there as if a magnet held it there. I remembered 
that the Water Shard was always directly by the Dragon Shard, so I placed it 
where it fit. Again, the shard stuck like a magnet. From there, I just 
placed them by trial and error. Too bad I had no chance for an error.
	After about fifteen minutes of shard placing, the medallion was complete, 
and the door opened. The part with the medallion, however, stayed where it 
was on a podium. Dave and I walked in, but as Dave did so, he accidentally 
bumped one of the Shards off the podium, and the door slammed shut. Dave and 
I were trapped in there, and we couldn't get the door back opened. I heard a 
muffled voice.
	"Bob, Dave, are you all right," Koga shouted through the door.
	"Yeah," I shouted back. "Put the shards back into place! We don't have much 
air!" At this comment, Dave started to breathe very fast. He was using up 
our precious air...
-                                         End of Chapter Four                
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