The Dragon Master V: Chapter Fifteen

	As we were falling, I called my wings and caught Erika and William. Duplica 
changed into a Charizard and flew down to pick up Bruno. Duplica and I flew 
down, because rocks were covering the area that we had come in from.
	The five us flew down until I saw the ground using Duplica's light on her 
tail. I landed on the ground, setting down Erika and William. Duplica landed 
with a large thump, and Bruno climbed down. Duplica changed back into 
herself, and we looked around where we were. If we were going to get out of 
here, we would need some light.
	"Flare, shed us some light," I said, throwing Flare's teal pokeball on the 
ground. In an explosion of teal energy, Flare emerged from his pokeball and 
the cavern that we were in was flooded with light.
	"Where are we at," Erika asked, apparently dazed from the bright light to 
the deep darkness.
	"Some passage in Victory Road that I've never been to," I replied. "And I 
would always explore this place as a kid when Delilah and I came up here to 
visit Lance. Back when I respected him." I looked around, slightly 
embarrassed by what I had just said about Lance.
	I walked through the passages, trying to find some way to get back to the 
surface. The five of us wandered around for quite some time, until Duplica 
noticed the time.
	"Holy shit," Duplica swore. "It's four o'clock already! We've been roaming 
this place for hours! Bob, what are we going to do? We have to get out of 
here by the twenty-fourth!"
	"Just let me think," I said, sitting down on a rock. "We have lots of 
time."
	"You're the one who says that you know this place very well," Duplica said, 
her voice rising.
	"I don't know when we're going to get out of here," I admitted. "But 
Victory Road can't be all that big! It has to connect to the upper levels 
sometime!"
	"How do you know that," Duplica asked. "Maybe this is an undiscovered 
passage! We could be wandering around until we die!"
	"Calm down, Duplica," William said, sitting down on the ground. "I'm sure 
that we can find some way out of this." He started rubbing his chin. "Bob, 
how high is the ceiling?"
	"I can't see it," I said. "It's too dark. Flare, go fly up there and see 
how far up it is." Flare obeyed, flying up to the ceiling.
	"How far up is it, Flare," William asked. Flare roared back down to us, but 
I understood him.
	"It's about fifty feet up," I said. "But that's just Flare's guess."
	"I see," William said. "Flare, could you move?" Flare obediently came down 
by us, as we were all in awe of what William was going to do.
	"What are you going to do," Duplica asked William. He didn't respond. 
Instead, William pointed his cane up at the ceiling.
	"Ice Beam," William spoke, and ice shot up at the ceiling, covering about a 
six-foot radius.
	"I get it," I understood. "Shall I?" William nodded at this. "Hyper Blast." 
I pointed my hands at the ice spot that William had created. What William 
had done was weakened the ice so I could blast through it. It worked, with 
ice and rock shattering everywhere. William had his grappling hook ready, 
and shot it through the hole. Evidently, it led to another level.
	"Are you going to complain anymore," I asked Duplica. "Because I might ask 
William to freeze you." Erika giggled, but stopped when Duplica gave her a 
look that could freeze the sun.
	The five of us took turns climbing the rope to the next level of Victory 
Road. I climbed up, and looked around. It was brighter up here, so I 
returned Flare. He needed a  good rest. However, we could not. We pressed 
on, hoping to hit our deadline of getting out of the cave of the 
twenty-fourth.
	"When are we going to stop for the night," Bruno wondered out loud.
	"Soon," I said. "Duplica, what time is it?" Duplica looked at her watch, in 
a bit better mood than she was before.
	"Seven o'clock," she replied to me.
	"We'll stop at nine o'clock," I said. "But as for now, we'll head up this 
path. It seems to be going upwards, and that's the direction that I would 
like to be going." Nobody replied to that comment, but we went on through 
the twisted passages.
	About two hours later, Duplica told me that it was nine o'clock, so I sat 
down after a long time of walking.
	"Do you think that there would be any firewood around here," Bruno asked.
	"No," I replied. "But maybe Erika could make some if we talked to her real 
nice." I looked at her pointedly.
	"Fine," Erika said. "Though I most likely wouldn't have thought of that, 
smarty pants." Erika summoned a small tree to grow out of the ground 
surrounded by bushes to burn.
	"Flare, do your thing," I said, tossing his pokeball in front of me. Flare 
appeared in a flash of teal energy, and started a fire. "Good job. Return." 
A thin teal beam of light shot out of Flare's pokeball, forcing him to 
return. Duplica sat down beside me. There was an uncomfortable silence until 
we both spoke at once.
	"I'm sorry," Duplica and I said simultaneously.
	"For being such a bitch," Duplica continued.
	"For not being a good enough leader," I continued.
	"Are we still cool," Duplica asked.
	"Yeah," I replied. "But don't worry. We'll get out of this." Duplica 
nodded, and went over to talk to Erika. Bruno took her place, and William 
sat on the other side of me.
	"So," Bruno said. "So..."
	"So what," I asked.
	"I've just realized that you and Erika, Duplica, and William have all saved 
my life," Bruno admitted. "I haven't got to thank you yet."
	"You don't need to," I replied. "I was just repaying you for all of the 
times that you helped me out in my reality."
	"I must be a really good guy in your reality, then," Bruno said, staring 
into the fire.
	"You're good in both realities," I replied to my friend. "You're a good 
friend, Bruno. I hope that I can always count on you, because you can always 
count on me."
	"Don't worry," Bruno said. "You can count on me." I smiled at him, and he 
burst out in a smile for what had to be the first time in a long time.
	Duplica and Erika had already gone to bed, as they always did. However, 
Bruno, William, and I sat conversing about what we were going to do at the 
meeting.
	"Couldn't we just walk through the front doors," Bruno asked.
	"Yeah," I replied. "We are all Pokemon Masters, after all. I would assume 
that all we would have to do is walk straight in. Don't you think, William?"
	"I would think," William replied. "But we have to have a backup plan just 
in case we get rejected."
	"We'll think of it on-site," I decided. "But what we really have work on is 
avoiding Lance or any Elite Four members until the time is right."
	"I say we take a seat as far away from them as possible," Bruno said. 
"After all, as long as we sit with the Masters that have no association with 
the League, we should be doing fine."
	"Masters like me," William added, and Bruno nodded.
	"As long as we stay near them," Bruno explained, "Lance won't come near us 
because there's no need to."
	"I think that that will work," I replied. "Now we just need to find some 
timing. We need to try and figure out when we will strike."
	"Should we just pick them off from the back of the room," Bruno suggested.
	"No," I replied. "We're going to give them a completely frontal fight. No 
sneakiness, none of that. We're going to walk up to them and kick their 
asses."
	"But when is the question," William started, rubbing his chin.
	"Do you guys know if Lance is going to give a speech or anything," I asked. 
"Or what this meeting is about for starters?"
	"Lance is trying to persuade all of the Pokemon Masters in the world to be 
a part of the League," William replied.
	"Most likely for something evil," I said. "This is what he has been doing 
since when I tried to take him on the first time. However, before this, he 
was just abducting them without consent of the Board of Masters."
	"There's a Board of Masters," William asked.
	"Yeah," I replied. "It's mainly just the Elite Four and League Champion. 
Bruno was on it when he was both second and third of the Elite Four."
	"Yes," Bruno said. "It was such a pointless board. The only times that we 
met was when there was a war, which most times someone had taken over the 
League, and we were declaring war against the League itself. The only other 
time that we met was when Lance was inducted as the Pokemon League Champion 
or a new Elite Four member was inducted."
	"Also when I was inducted," I cut in. "But that was the only time that I 
was ever at a meeting."
	"We have to get to Lance before he persuades anybody to join the League's 
side," I brought the old conversation back to life. "Otherwise, Brock and 
whoever else fights with us is going to have one hell of a time fighting off 
all of the Masters that Lance has brainwashed."
	"So we have to act fast," William queried.
	"Very fast," I replied. "If the meeting starts at noon, then we have to get 
to Lance and the Elite Four by 12:10 P.M. at the very latest. Lance will 
most likely talk up how well the League has been doing both financially and 
how many battles they've won against competitors, just to spice up his 
proposition."
	"So he sweet talks the crowd and then brainwashes them," William inquired.
	"Exactly," I said with conviction. Bruno yawned, making it known that he 
was tired. I had to admit that I was, too.
	"Let's stop for now," William said. "We'll continue in the morning when we 
continue wandering around this deathtrap." He smiled. I laughed, and lay 
down next to the fire. I fell asleep quite easily, thinking about the coming 
of the next few days...
	When I awoke the next morning, everyone else was already awake. Bruno and 
William were continued our discussion from the previous night. I got up of 
the rocky ground and moved myself over to them to talk with them.
	"What if we're seen before we want to be seen," Bruno asked.
	"Then it's not our choice," William replied. "We're just going to have to 
attack then. It may not be to our advantage, but an attack's an attack."
	"Not if it is carelessly planned," Bruno said wisely. "If we don't get the 
timing that we need, then this could be a disaster."
	"It won't," I replied, getting their attention. "We will win this thing. 
We'll go back to our old reality, and everything will be right in the 
world."
	"Bob," Bruno said, surprised. "I thought of something last night. Will the 
people that die in this reality be alive in yours?"
	"Yes," I replied. "These two realities have been following different tracks 
for the past for years. Something that could've happened, but did not 
happen, can't hurt you, right? So unfortunately, Giovanni will still be 
alive in my own reality..."
	"You really must hate him," Bruno said. "I didn't like my father either. 
Not to the same extreme, I'm just trying to compare with you."
	"Right," I said. "What time is it, anyway?"
	"Around noon," Bruno replied. "We thought that we might be able to get 
moving once you woke up. You know, as we are kind of lost. Plus, we don't 
know how long it will take us to get out of here."
	"I'm not worried," I replied. "We can blast our way out of this cave if 
necessary. That will most likely end up happening, too. But, let's get 
going. I would like to find my way out of here the easy way."
	"Duplica," William cried. "Erika! We're leaving!" Duplica and Erika came 
over by us, and we started down the winding path. During this time of 
wandering, the five of us were strategizing.
	"How many Masters do you think will fight back," William asked no one in 
particular.
	"Perhaps twenty or thirty," Bruno replied. "Remember, some of them hate 
Lance just as much as you do, Bob."
	"I doubt it," I replied, leaving Bruno nonplussed.
	"How many Pokemon Masters are there in Kanto and Johto all together," 
Duplica asked. "I mean, honestly now. How many actually have these messed up 
genes of ours?"
	"Not many," I replied. "Maybe around fifty. Seventy-five at the most. 
However, most of the Masters do not admit to it. Most Gym Leaders didn't, 
though they all are."
	"I guess that I didn't realize that there were that many," Erika replied. 
"What's the least common element?"
	"Dragon," I replied, and Duplica cleared her throat. "No, Dragon is the 
least. There are four Change Masters."
	"How many Dragon Masters, then," Duplica asked, now sort of angry that she 
wasn't right.
	"Two," I replied. "Just me and Lance."
	"What about Clair," William asked. "You know, the leader of the Blackthorn 
City Gym?"
	"Oh yeah," I replied. "I completely forgot about her. You see, in my 
reality, she's dead."
	"Why did she die," Bruno asked. "Some sort of accident?"
	"I killed her," I replied. "She was a double agent in the League. She was 
the one working with John Flargini."
	"So, why are all Dragon Masters confined to the Largway family," Erika 
asked. "And don't say that you're not part of it."
	"Maybe because Dragon's Den has been in my family since it has been 
created," I guessed. "But that's a good question. I guess that I'll have to 
ask my grandfather that. Delilah's father, I mean."
	"You even claim that part of the family," Duplica asked, surprised. "I 
mean, if Delilah, Lance, and Clair are all dead in your reality, then you 
have no ties to Delilah's father."
	"On the contrary," I replied. "About a month before she died, she put 
Grandfather Largway as both mine and Lance's legal guardian in case 
something ever happened to her."
	"It's almost as if she knew that her time was up," Erika said. That 
statement made me think.
	The five of us continued to walk through the winding tunnels for about 
another hour, when we saw the flickering of light. We heard the voices of a 
huge mass of people on the other side of the corner. I held up my finger to 
my mouth, signaling them to be quiet. I recognized four, maybe five voices 
out of the crowd. They were the ones talking. At that moment, I knew who 
they were, and I was shocked.
	"I have here in my hands," Jesse of Team Rocket said, "the will of our 
leader, Giovanni. It's time to find out who the boss leaves control of Team 
Rocket to."
	"It's not going to be you two losers," Butch said. "He would have obviously 
left it to us, the strongest ones of the group!"
	"Bullshit, Butch," James said. "Everyone knows that he favored us the most! 
After all, who did he send to capture Ash's Pikachu?"
	"You two twits," Cassidy replied sassily. "And after nine years, you still 
haven't done it!"
	"SHUT UP AND OPEN THE FRICKIN' WILL," Meowth shouted at his companions. 
Jesse, James, Butch, and Cassidy were all shocked at what Meowth had said. 
Following orders, Jesse ripped open the envelope, and pulled out the paper 
inside.
	"WHAT THE HELL," Jesse shouted. "He left it all to his son!"
	"WHAT THE HELL," I shouted, making my appearance from out behind the 
corner. All of the Team Rocket members were shocked.
	"WHAT THE HELL," James yelled at my appearance, clenching his heart.
	"WHAT THE HELL," Bruno yelled at James' voice. He despised James for making 
fun of him when he was first inducted into the Elite Four. Somehow, Bruno 
had found out about that.
	"WHAT THE HELL," Meowth yelled, running around in circles at the sight of a 
convicted murderer.
	"WHAT THE HELL," Butch cried, because Meowth had just clawed his way up 
Butch's back. The screams alarmed Erika.
	"WHAT THE HELL," Erika shouted, running out from behind the corner as well.
	"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON," Duplica shouted, storming out into the mass of 
Team Rocket members and Pokemon Masters.
	"Giovanni left everything to this twerp," Jesse explained, jabbing her 
thumb at me.
	"We caught that part," I replied. "Let me read the will." Jesse handed over 
the will, and I read it. It read:

To whomever it may concern:

	This is my last will and testament. At the unfortunate news of my death, I 
leave the control of my company, Rocket Inc. to my son, Bob Shepardson. I 
also leave the head position of Team Rocket to my son, Bob Shepardson. My 
Ground Mastery shall go back from where it came from, the ground.
My last words to my son shall be this: "Dust from whence you came, and to 
dust you shall return." Remember me as the good guy, not the leader of Team 
Rocket.


						Sincerely,
							Robert Giovanni, The Ground Master

	I stared at the piece of paper, mostly at my father's first name. His first 
name was Robert. He had named me after himself. This just fed my anger 
towards him. I wasn't now sure what I was going to do once I saw him again 
in my own reality. I would probably kill him, but I laughed at that thought. 
While I was deep inside my own thoughts, Jesse poked me back to 
reality....the reality that I didn't want to happen.
	"Hey," Jesse said. "Are you done?" She snatched Giovanni's will back from 
me.
	"So," I said. "In theory, I am your guy's leader?"
	"In theory," Jesse said, unsure of where I was going. However, I knew just 
where I was going and what was going to happen with this.
	"So, if I had a job for you guys, would you take it," I asked.
	"Yes," Jesse said. "But it's not like we really have a choice in the 
matter."
	"Excellent," I said, clapping my hands once. "As a matter in fact, I do 
have a job for you. Shall I elaborate?"
	"Yeah," Butch and Cassidy said, interested.
	"We're taking on the League," I said.
	"What does it pay us," Butch asked. "Money is very important."
	"If we succeed, you guys will get Giovanni back," I said.
	"How is that-" Cassidy started asking, but I cut her off.
	"No questions asked," I said. "Are you in?"
	"What if we happen to fail," James asked. "Because we're good at that." 
Jesse clomped him on the head.
	"We'll most likely die," I said. "But we can't fail."
	"Who will we be fighting," Jesse asked me.
	"Around sixty Masters," I replied, while James fainted.
	"How many Masters will we have on our side," Butch asked, unafraid of what 
the outcome could be. He wasn't afraid of even death. I knew that that would 
be an asset.
	"One for sure," I replied. "Perhaps more depending on the timing."
	"Wait, wait, wait," Jesse asked. "Where will you five be?"
	"Fighting the Elite Four and the League Champion," I replied. "Are you guys 
in?"
	"Yeah," Butch and Cassidy said at the same time.
	"What about you three," I asked Jesse, and pointing to James and Meowth.
	"I've always wanted to beat on a Pokemon Master," Jesse said. "And these 
two are with me."
	"Good," I replied. I turned to the crowd of Team Rockets wearing both black 
and white uniforms. "What about you?" I heard a gentle murmuring in the 
crowd, and then some loud cheers.
	"Looks like you have yourself an army," Bruno said, arms folding and 
smiling.
	"Yeah," I said. I turned to Jesse, the unconscious James, Butch, and 
Cassidy. "How did you guys get in here, anyway?"
	"Well," Meowth said, butting into the conversation. "We were coming down 
here to our secret meeting place to discuss Giovanni's passing, and we got 
lost, and then you came along, and then I realized that the boss doesn't 
have a pokemon to pet all day, like Giovanni used to do with his Persian, so 
would you like to pet me?" Meowth looked very happy that Giovanni was gone. 
He just wanted to be petted, that was all.
	"Whatever," I said, turning back to the Team Rocket White and Black 
leaders, who were Jesse, James, Butch, and Cassidy, in their respective 
groups. Meowth went down by my feet and started rubbing his body on my 
boots, which I didn't even feel. I just left him alone, leaving him to so 
what he liked to do.
	"Do you guys even know the way out of this place," I asked. They all shook 
their heads. "How did that happen?"
	"Well," James started, finally waking up. "We were just walking along when 
the cave floor gave out. So now we're trapped wandering down here."
	"The meeting is on the twenty-fifth," I said. "That's in two days. We have 
to get out of here by tomorrow night at six o'clock P.M. if we want to make 
it there in time. Is there any way that you people can remember which way 
you came?" A Team Rocket Grunt came forward and up to us.
	"I remember," the Grunt said.
	"Why didn't you speak up sooner," Jesse said, ready to hit him. She raised 
her arm, but I grabbed it.
	"I hear that if you're nice to people, they'll do more stuff for you," I 
said, teeth gritted. I let go of her arm, and turned back to the Rocket 
Grunt. "Can you show us?"
	"Yeah," the Grunt said.
	"Good," I said. "What's your name?"
	"Billy," the Grunt said, now nervous at why the new boss would want to know 
his name.
	"Okay, Billy, show us the way," I said. Billy led us down a narrow path 
that we had to walk single file down. Our little discussion had taken nearly 
three hours, so by the time that we reached the spot that Team Rocket had 
come down from, it was nearly six o'clock.
	I looked up through the holes that they had fallen through, and they had 
fallen through at least three floors. William's grappling hook wouldn't be 
able to reach that.
	"Does anybody have a rope long enough to reach up there," I asked the crowd 
of Team Rocket members. Someone came up with a long, hundred-foot rope.
	"I get it," Duplica said, finally catching it and calling her bow. I handed 
her the rope, which she then tied to the pink arrow that she had generated. 
She drew back her bow as far as she could without breaking it. She let the 
arrow go with so much force, it stuck into the rock ceiling fully, surely 
providing a sturdy anchor for us to climb up.
	"I'll go first," I said. "Everyone else follow." I took a hold of the rope, 
and started climbing up it with ease. My Pokemon Master companions followed 
my quickly, and the Team Rocket members soon after. It took about a half of 
an hour to get everyone up the rope. Once we had that obstacle surpassed, 
everyone was beat from the amount of walking that had taken place.
	"When...do...we...rest," James asked, panting.
	"Soon, James," I said. "We're going to stop for the night real soon. How 
far are we from the exit, anyway?"
	"About a twelve hour walk," Jesse said. "So if you want to leave this 
deathtrap by six o'clock tomorrow, then I would suggest that we leave at six 
A.M. tomorrow."
	"Okay," I replied. "I think that we should set up for the night. Erika, the 
fire." Erika's eyes glowed green, and a plant grew out of the ground. I was 
about to release Flare, but William stopped me.
	"I've been working on something," William said. "Freezer Burn." William 
pointed his hand at the fire, and icy mist shot out of his hand. The plant 
froze immediately, and I wondered what was going on.
	"William," I said. "What's that supposed to do?"
	"Wait for it," William said. I did, and I was surprised. Suddenly, the 
plant burst into large flames.
	"What the hell," I said.
	"Don't start that again," Jesse said, unimpressed.
	"Freezer Burn," William explained. "Can both freeze and burn."
	"Cool," I said. "But we need to discuss some tactics now."
	"Exactly how are we supposed to win," James asked, worried again.  "That's 
a lot of Pokemon Masters to fight off at once!"
	"Precisely what I meant," I agreed. "Do you want us to leave our pokemon to 
help you guys?"
	"That would be nice," Jesse said. "We would be able to use our pokemon, 
too, right?"
	"Yeah," I said. "Nobody will really remember this, anyway."
	"Are you kidding," Jesse exclaimed. "I can see the headlines now! 'Bob 
Shepardson and Team Rocket take on the Pokemon League'! This is going to be 
huge even if we lose!"
	"Just trust me," I said. "But the most important thing is to kill the Elite 
Four and League Champion! We can't forget that! That is the entire reason 
why we are taking on the Pokemon League to begin with!"
	"I'm tired," James complained. "I'm going to bed!"
	"Fine," Jesse said. "Leave so we don't have to deal with you anymore!" 
James laid down right at out feet, expecting us to move.
	"I'm actually thinking that James is right," I said.
	"I'm trying to sleep," James reminded us.
	"I think that we should all turn in," I said.
	"Use your indoor voices," James said, getting angry.
	"Anything to shut him up," Jesse said, surrendering. She went off to sleep 
by someone other than James. I sat down near the fire to keep an eye on it. 
I laid there for a long time, thinking about the upcoming events. I knew 
that it was either going to be me or Lance winning. I hadn't really fought 
him since I was sixteen. And even then, he was pretty much half dead. I 
still didn't know what to think of it all. I fell asleep thinking about 
Misty. Oh, I had missed her for so long...soon, I would hold her in my arms 
once again...
-                                         End of Chapter Fifteen             
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