The Dragon Master V: Chapter Sixteen

	I woke up in the morning before six o'clock. I got up everyone, including 
the Team Rocket Grunts. Luckily, the fire was still going, as it was cold 
and damp inside Victory Road in the morning.
	"Is it all right with you, or can I make some breakfast," James asked, 
apparently very hungry.
	"Yeah," I said, shocked. "Are you going to make enough for everyone?"
	"I always do," James said, smiling. Evidently, James was a morning person 
who loved to cook. Jesse, Butch, and Cassidy, on the other hand were not.
	"Hurry up, James," Jesse snapped. "Could you make some coffee? Hurry up 
with that, too!" She clearly loved to boss James around, who didn't seem to 
mind it. He was busting around, cooking all of the rations that some Grunts 
had brought along to carry.
	James had made eggs and bacon, which Duplca, Erika, William, Bruno, and I 
accepted graciously. He also brought us some coffee, which was very nice, 
though the coffee really wasn't.
	Once we were done, the Grunts packed up everything and we moved on towards 
the end of Victory Road, and then Indigo Plateau, and then to Lance...
	We walked onwards through the main tunnel of Victory Road, which was now 
straight instead of winding like all of the passages below. There was no 
talking for nearly an hour, until I decided it time to plan again.
	"Do you think Sabrina will help us," I asked William.
	"She seemed nice enough to me," William said, shrugging.
	"Nice," Erika asked. "I'm sorry, were you being sarcastic? She wouldn't 
help us."
	"She saved Duplica from poison," I said, proving the point of my question.
	"That didn't hurt the League any," Erika protested. "She was just saving 
the life of another human being!"
	"Bullshit," I said, smiling. "Had she not saved Duplica, we most likely 
wouldn't have gotten out of a lot of situations that would've ended this 
little campaign of ours!"
	"You can't prove that," Erika argued. "Any one of us could have done those 
tasks that she did!"
	"I'm offended by that," Duplica said, hands on her hips. "No offense, 
William, but you couldn't have hit the ceiling of that cave."
	"None taken," William said. "I wouldn't have known where to aim. I think 
that Duplica is a huge advantage to our team."
	"I don't think that Sabrina will help us," Bruno said, head hanging. "She 
was on the jury that put me away."
	"But so was Lance," Duplica said.
	"Yeah, but couldn't she have just read Bruno's mind," I asked. "She 
could've found out that way."
	"But she chose not to," Bruno said. "Either that, or Lance made her change 
her mind."
	"I wouldn't put it past him," I replied. "But that doesn't change that I 
think that she will help us. Sabrina's a good person, deep down."
	"Maybe four years ago," Erika said. "But now you're going to have to dig a 
long ways down to find any good in that woman."
	"I'm just trying to find people that will help us," I said. "Brock for sure 
will take our side. Janine might. I think that she's still deciding. She 
might even persuade Koga that what we are doing is right. Sabrina's another 
wild card. I'm not sure if we can trust her yet or not."
	"What about Falkner," Duplica asked. "What about Morty, Jasmine, Whitney, 
Bugsy, and maybe Misty, wait, forget Misty."
	"Maybe we'll have more help than we originally thought," I replied, rubbing 
my chin. "But that doesn't really change that we're going to be against 
around sixty or so Masters."
	"Yeah," Bruno said. "But wait, Karen might help us. Will might, too."
	"Will's flipped sides in the past," I said. "If I win, he's suddenly my 
best friend. But he's got the knife in his hand to stab me in the back if I 
screw up."
	"I think Bruno's right about Karen," Duplica said. "Karen was like an aunt 
to you, Bob."
	"I know that," I replied. "But if she was an aunt to me, then she was also 
an aunt to Lance, too. You can't pick one or the other."
	"I suppose," William said. "But any way you put it, our 'army' is going to 
be outnumbered."
	"I know," I said. "And I wish that we could have the advantage, but we 
can't right now. We're just going to have to fight our best."
	"Don't worry," James said. "I think that Team Rocket is ready to fight for 
the just cause." He saluted me for some strange reason, and Jesse hit him 
over the head.
	"Team Rocket is supposed to an evil organization," Jesse said. "There's no 
'just cause' for Team Rocket! Stupid moron." After that had been said, 
things got quiet because we were all done "strategizing."
	I was thinking that this could be the end of this all. I could finally beat 
Lance once and for all. But I was still wondering if Lance was alive in my 
reality. Maybe he was just out there, playing this like an elaborate game of 
chess. I just had to remain one step ahead of him to win...
	We had been walking for hours on end, with endless bickering in between 
Jesse, James, and Meowth. I was actually getting tired of it, but it was 
entertaining. I just blocked it out and kept on walking.
	Yet more hours later, it was getting darker out because we could see the 
exit to Victory Road. After all of this time of being trapped down here, we 
were finally going to get out of here. Tomorrow, in less than a day, this 
would all be over. I would kill Lance, and go back to my own reality...
	We reached the mouth of Victory Road, and I was so glad to see something 
else besides rocks and dirt. As we exited from that deathtrap, I turned to 
Duplica.
	"What time is it, Duplica," I said. She glanced at her watch quick.
	"Quarter 'till six," Duplica replied. "Looks like we made it in good time."
	"Yeah," I replied, my mindset now back on finishing this once and for 
all...defeating Lance seemed like the only important thing now...
	The group of us walked down the route to Indigo City, where this showdown 
would take place. Nothing stood in our way. Pokemon Masters and trainers had 
already camped out for the night alongside the road. They stared at the 
large group of trainers, because they didn't know that we were Pokemon 
Masters because we weren't wearing our cloaks. Bruno, however, was wearing a 
hooded forest cloak with his hood covering his face, as he was still wanted 
by the League as a convicted murderer.
	Duplica, Erika, William, Bruno, I, and Team Rocket walked swiftly down the 
path, as to not draw too much attention to ourselves. We knew that if any 
Pokemon Masters recognized us, we would be caught for sure. We kept our 
distance from as many camps as we could, and didn't pass through any. 
Occasionally, there were still people awake that asked us where we were 
from, so I gave them I swift answer of "New Bark Town" without even stopping 
to talk more.
	We traveled deep into the night, and at nearly two o'clock in the morning, 
we reached the entrance to Indigo City. There was a guard at the gates, as 
there usually is at night. The guard's main job is to make sure that nobody 
that is running from the law gets in or out. However, this guard was asleep, 
so we all just crept under the gate with ease.
	We raced through the city to Indigo Plateau, where the Palace of the Elite 
Four was, because that was where the meeting was. Normally League guards 
would have been patrolling the area, but since Masters were camping out to 
get goods seats at the meeting, guarding the vicinity seemed pointless.
	There were nearly twenty Pokemon Masters camping out in front of the doors, 
while most of the others must be staying in hotels and PokeCenters.
	"Jesse, James," I said, calling the Team Rocket White leaders to me. "Take 
your team over to the left side of the building to camp out. I think people 
could get suspicious if they see Team Rocket wandering around."
	"How are we going to know when it's time to come in," James asked, 
scratching his head.
	"Look for an explosion," I said. "We'll be setting remote charges to set 
off when it's time. Butch, Cassidy, lead your squad over to the right side 
of the building to camp out." The Team Rocket Black leaders and the Team 
Rocket White leaders led their groups to the sides that I ordered them to.
	"What do we do," Erika asked me.
	"We sit here and wait for morning to come," I said. "I recommend us to 
sleep during this time. We'll wake up in time." I sat down on the ground, 
and called my teal cloak over me. Everyone else sat down on the ground to 
sleep, and called their own cloaks to cover them.
	It took me awhile to get to sleep, as I was nervous about the coming day. 
It would be the day of reckoning for Lance. It would be the day of reckoning 
for all of us...tomorrow would be the day to see what we would be made 
of...but tomorrow would come. I would get my revenge when it did...
	When I finally got to sleep, I had the strangest dreams. I dreamt that the 
meeting had already started, and Lance and I were fighting. The two of us 
were fighting in the middle of the room, with the Elite Four and Bruno, 
William, Duplica, and Erika fighting around us. Brock and Team Rocket were 
fighting all of the other Pokemon Masters in a ring around us. Team Rocket 
members were falling left and right. Brock had taken a sword through his 
stomach and was lying dead on the ground. Jesse, James, Butch, and Cassidy 
were lying on the ground, all dead. The Masters had defeated Team Rocket and 
the Masters on our side.
	The Pokemon Masters on Lance's side formed a circle around the fighting 
Elite Four and League Champion. Without warning, William slipped on the 
ground, and John Flargini drove his katana through William's heart, killing 
him instantly.
	Mya Waterflower was fighting Erika, and flames were everywhere. Mya ducked 
a blow of Erika's staff, and went around behind her, caught her around the 
throat, and snapped her neck with ease.
	Marcus Waterflower was fighting Bruno, who was losing. Bruno was getting 
beat up by Marcus's staff. Suddenly, Marcus made his staff weapon deadly by 
crafting a point on the end using his Mastery. Catching Bruno off guard, he 
shoved the pointed staff through Bruno's stomach, causing Bruno to fall over 
and to bleed to death.
	Ash was fighting Duplica, and Duplica should have had the advantage, but 
she didn't. She was firing arrows at him one after another, but he was 
deflecting them with his katana. Ash backed Duplica back against a wall, and 
then thrust his katana into her stomach, making her bleed internally, and 
killing her.
	The circle of Pokemon Masters narrowed down closer, and the Elite Four made 
a circle by themselves around Lance and I. I was all bloody from some minor 
cuts that Lance had dealt me with his lance. For some reason, there was 
blood in my mouth, and I spit it out on the floor. Lance came at me with his 
lance, and I blocked with my katana. I couldn't go on the offensive, and 
Lance's strikes got quicker and quicker. I couldn't stop them, and I made a 
fatal mistake. I didn't block a shot, and Lance drove his lance through my 
stomach, and out my back.
	"It's over, Bob," Lance said, and then-
	"Holy shit," I cried, waking up and sitting straight up on the ground. 
Duplica looked at me funnily. In fact, all of the Masters standing waiting 
to get in were looking at me.
	"Are you okay, Bob," Duplica asked.
	"Yes," I lied. "No. Maybe. I don't know!" I let my head fall into my hands.
	"What's the matter," William asked.
	"I was dreaming that we were fighting," I said. "Everyone was dying. I saw 
who was fighting who, and then I figured that we weren't in the pairs that 
we had picked out. And then Lance killed me, and said it was over. That's 
when I woke up..."
	"That's not going to happen," Duplica said. "Besides, I was going to wake 
you up anyway. It's nearly time to go in."
	"Okay," I said, getting up off the ground and dusting off my cloak. "So 
what's happened so far?"
	"Nothing really," Bruno replied. "They just said that it would be a little 
bit before they let us in."
	"Okay," I said. "I can wait a little bit." Duplica nudged me and pointed at 
the stairs entering into the palace.
	"You won't have to," Duplica said. A League guard had just come out of the 
doors, microphone in hand.
	"It is time to come in," the guard said loudly through the microphone. 
"Master Lance is waiting for you." I had just noticed that there were more 
Pokemon Masters than there was the night before. In total, there were about 
seventy.
	The group of Pokemon Masters started to move, and I seemed to be right. I 
was the only person in the crowd wearing a teal cloak. There was only about 
two or three other Masters wearing pink cloaks.
	The time is coming close for Lance, I thought to myself. This time, I will 
make sure that he will never bother me again...
-                                         End of Chapter Sixteen             
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