The Dragon Master V: Chapter Eighteen

	I was spinning through a vortex of different realities, catching only 
glimpses of what might have been. I could not tell if they were good or bad, 
as I didn't see much of them. I saw a large moving picture ahead of me. It 
was at the end of the tunnel, and it was of me and Marcus Waterflower 
fighting at Misty's and my wedding. Marcus's Slowking was lying unconscious 
on the ground, completely exhausted from altering reality. I was speeding 
toward my own reality at breakneck speed. I collided with the picture, and a 
bright light flashed before my eyes. I saw nothing but white for a moment, 
until I saw where I was. I was in the wedding hall, katana raised, with 
Marcus Waterflower standing opposite me. He had his blue staff raised, and 
he had a look of fear on his face.
	"RETREAT," he shouted. All Team Aqua and Magma started to run for the 
doors. Mya Waterflower struck Misty in the face with her staff and also 
started to run for the door. However, none of them left. There seemed to be 
a commotion at the door. The Team Aqua members lined up on one side, and the 
Team Magma members on the other. A figure walked through the mass of them. 
He was wearing a teal cloak...
	"Bob," Lance said, pulling his hood down, and walking towards me, smiling. 
"I see that you've destroyed my entire reality. It was the perfect reality, 
you know."
	"Bullshit," I said. "That place was hell!"
	"Whatever," Lance said, waving it off. "I'm sure you're interested on how I 
am alive."
	"Yeah," I replied. "How the hell have you pulled it off this time?"
	"Easy," Lance said. "One of my uncles from my father's side is a brilliant 
scientist. He had developed a machine for bringing the dead to life. He has 
spent four years perfecting it before bringing me back to life. However, I 
killed him immediately. He had served his purpose."
	"Just like Delilah," I replied quietly.
	"Exactly," Lance said, smiling even more. "You actually remember. You see, 
most people I don't need around except for them to do one thing for me. 
After that, I have no use for them, so why should they live anymore?"
	"You sick bastard," I gritted through my teeth. "I will end this now!"
	"I'd like to see you try," Lance said, as if it were a challenge.
	"DRAGON DISCHARGE," I cried. My eyes glowed silver, and the Elemental Ring 
on my right ring finger glowed with anticipation of the coming attack. I 
rose up in the air a few feet without the aid of my wings.
	"Holy hell," Brock whispered.
	"Now you'll see it's not right to mess with me," I whispered to Lance. Teal 
and silver bolts of lightening fired from my body, all of them aimed at 
Lance. Lance jumped away from them almost acrobatically with ease.
	"You're the one who messed with me," Lance replied, recalling his cloak, 
making it evaporate into wisps of teal smoke. He then called his wings as 
his eyes glowed teal. I called my own, and Lance darted out of the doors 
into the open wilderness. I followed him at rapid speed.
	I lost track of Lance in the middle of a small clearing. I turned around, 
katana raised to strike at the first sign of movement. Suddenly, a large 
tree branch came out of nowhere, nailing me in the face. Lance shot out of 
some bushes, and flew as fast as he could towards the river behind Indigo 
Plateau. I shot after him, ready to strike at him.
	"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT POWER THAT RING CONTAINS," Lance shouted back at me.
	"I DON'T NEED TO," I shouted back at him. "ALL THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IS YOUR 
DEATH!" Lance merely laughed as me came closer to the river. He was flying 
in a straight line, heading directly for the river.
	"HYPER BLAST," I shouted, pointing the tip of my katana at him. A thin beam 
was fired from the end of my curved sword, aimed directly at Lance. The beam 
was moving faster than Lance, and it was just about to hit him. At the last 
second, however, Lance swerved, and the beam hit a tree at the exact moment 
that Lance crossed the river. The tree fell at the force of the Hyper Blast, 
nailing Lance's back. His wings degenerated, and his teal cloak took their 
place.
	I landed on the edge of the river, and noticed that Lance was trapped 
underneath the water by the tree, and was about to go over the highest 
waterfall in all of Kanto and Johto. I took flight and went after him to 
make sure he died. As I saw Lance go over the waterfall, I flew down to the 
bottom. I would make sure Lance died...
	I landed on the shore beside of the waterfall, and watched for Lance. He 
wasn't there. I let loose a Dragonbreath into the spray around the 
waterfall, which disintegrated immediately, leaving me with a view that I 
did not expect.
	The tree that Lance was trapped under had been impaled on a rock. Lance's 
cloak was there, and so was a lot of blood. However, Lance was not. I didn't 
see him anywhere. If he had survived, he would have drifted downstream 
before I had reached the shore. I kicked the ground in frustration, because 
Lance still might be alive. I flew back up the waterfall and to the Palace 
of the Elite Four. Officer Jenny and her crew that had just arrived on the 
scene had arrested all of Team Aqua and Magma.
	"Is Lance dead," Misty asked, running up to me. "Because my parents 
escaped."
	"I don't know," I replied. "He went over the waterfall out back, where I 
found his cloak impaled on a very sharp rock. There was blood everywhere. It 
sure looks like he'd dead, but he looked dead four years ago after I had 
shoved my katana right through him."
	"Not even a Pokemon Master could survive that fall," Brock said, walking up 
to me.
	"I know," I said. "But I still don't know if he's dead or not."
	"Neither do I," I replied.
	"Bob, could I talk to you," Erika said, walking up to me. "It's about the 
whole thing that happened within a second of time here." Brock looked 
confused, but Misty didn't.
	"I need to talk to you, also," Bruno spoke up, as he was following right 
behind Erika. Duplica approached me from the other side.
	"There's a pressing matter that we need to attend to," Duplica said, 
jerking her head over to the corner. Bruno, Erika, Duplica, Misty, and I 
walked over into the corner.
	"Do you remember," Duplica asked.
	"Of course," I replied. "I remembered this one. What makes you think that I 
could forget the other one?"
	"I remember too," Duplica replied. "In fact, while you were gone, we've 
found out that we all remember."
	"Nobody else remembers," I said. "Brock and them are all just...oblivious 
to the fact that we have just traveled to an alternate reality and back."
	"I remember, too," Misty said. The four of us stared at her.
	"How can you remember," Duplica asked. "You weren't even with us."
	"I know," Misty said. "But when I was in that reality, deep down I knew 
what was going on. But like Lance said, it was all just a dream to me."
	"Yeah," I said, barely audible. "But why do we remember?"
	"I think that it was because we each killed someone that needed to die in 
order for us to return," Bruno said.
	"But what about Misty," Erika asked. "Who did she kill?"
	"Myself," she replied. "I was one of the people that needed to die. Around 
that time, I was so confused that I wanted to end it all."
	"Don't worry," I said, hugging my fiancé, as we were not yet married.
	"What about William," Duplica asked. "Do you think that he remembers? He 
killed John Flargini."
	"I would bet any money that he does," I replied. "But it's his choice 
whether he wants to come forward about it or not." Brock ran over to us, 
interrupting our conversation.
	"Bob," Brock said. "I would suggest that you and Misty get up to the altar. 
Well, if you two still want to get married, that is."
	"What do you say," I asked Misty.
	"Let's do it," Misty replied.
	"Okay," I said jokingly. "Is that closet over there okay?"
	"You know what I mean," Misty said, knowing that I was teasing. "Let's get 
married."
	"Hey," I said. "That was exactly what I thinking when I proposed!"
	"Seriously, now," Misty said, laughing a bit. "Every time we're going to 
get married, something comes up. Either I get kidnapped, or Lance alters 
reality, or something like that. Let's live in the moment. Let's finally get 
married."
	"Okay," I said, and the two of us walked up to the altar in our Master's 
cloaks. The priest came up, after being consoled by Brock to proceed.
There we were, Misty and I in our Master's cloaks, standing at the altar. 
Brock was standing beside me in his cloak, and Misty's bridesmaids standing 
beside her in their appropriate cloaks. The wedding hall was in shambles, 
some things were still on fire, but it didn't matter. Misty and I were 
finally saying our vows.
	"And now, Master Shepardson will read his vows," the priest said.
	"Misty Waterflower," I started. "Will you take me as your husband, no 
matter what happens in the future. I can't offer you much, but I can offer 
you my love. I promise to protect you. I will honor you, and always be by 
your side."
	"I do," Misty replied. "Bob Shepardson, will you take me as your wife, who 
will adore you for ages to come. I will never leave you for any reason, and 
will always love you, no matter what."
	"I do," I replied.
	"By the power invested in me," the priest said. "And by the power given to 
me by the United Catholic Church of Johto, I announce you as husband and 
wife! You may now kiss the bride." Misty and I embraced, and shared our 
first kiss as a married couple. "For the first time ever, I give to you Mr. 
and Mrs. Bob Shepardson!" Misty and I separated, and then ran down the aisle 
to and out of the doors. Rice flew everywhere. The two of us got in a 
limousine that was decorated with teal and blue car paint. The driver drove 
us to the reception, which was actually in the Palace of the Elite Four, the 
same place as the wedding, but in a different building.
	When we reached the place, everyone was already there waiting for us. When 
we got out of the limo, we were showered with hugs from our friends and 
family. Everyone went inside, where someone had hired a disc jockey to play 
music for us. A slow song played at the beginning, and Misty and I revolved 
slowly around the dance floor, our heads tilted in close.
	Everyone was dancing slowly. Brock was dancing with Erika, who was very 
nervous, as Brock was not a very good dancer, especially around women. 
Duplica was dancing with Bruno, who was nearly two feet taller than her, and 
they were almost certainly discussing the other reality.
If I was not mistaken, I saw my parents, Giovanni and Lorelei dancing. 
Lorelei had her head on Giovanni's shoulder, and they were looking very 
romantic.
	"Look at your parents," Misty said, jerking her head towards them.
	"I know," I replied.
	"They look so sweet together," Misty continued.
	"Yeah," I agreed. They actually did.
	"Bob," Misty said, still looking at my parents. "Do you think there's a 
chance that-"
	"No," I replied. "The last time that they were in the same room, they had 
guns to each other's heads."
	"You're such a pessimist," Misty said, giggling. "But wouldn't it be kind 
of nice to have your parents..." She was going to say "back together," but 
something stopped her. I knew what it was, too.
	"Listen," I said. "I know that you would love for your parents not to be 
the way they are. I wish that they weren't that way, either. But it's just 
not for them."
	"Can we get some air," Misty asked, because she didn't want people to see 
her cry. Tears started to come, so we quickly rushed outside. The two of us 
went outside and sat down on the steps.
	"Would it help to talk about it," I asked my new wife.
	"Yes," Misty said, ready to unload. "But I don't even know where to 
begin..."
	"Start with your last memory of them," I tried.
	"They went out for 'groceries,'" Misty said. "Once they got in the car, it 
exploded. But now I realized what happened. My mother must've changed into 
fire and invaded the fuel tank while my father must've turned into water and 
escaped without a scratch.
	"And now they're back. After all of this time, after I had just found 
closure, they're right in my face again. I liked having the idea that my 
parents were good people and my dad was just a simple Gym leader. I don't 
want them to be evil..." She put her head on my shoulder, and started to cry 
silently.
	"I know," I replied. "But I'd bet that they regret what they did. They know 
that you and your sisters didn't deserve that. But, all that they could see 
was their purpose."
	"They just didn't want me or my sisters," Misty replied. "We had to have 
been kids that no one would have wanted."
	"Come on, Misty," I said. "I married you, didn't I? The reason that I 
married you is because I love you with all of my heart and soul. I love you 
so much. If I didn't have you to push me in the first place, we would've 
never beaten Lance the first time. Misty, you're the only girl that I could 
ever imagine being with."
	"I love you, too," Misty said, her head still on my shoulder. "I just wish 
that my father would've danced with me after the wedding..." Silent tears 
flooded down her face, and I knew how sad she was.
	"Misty, look at me," I said. Reluctantly, she sat up and looked me in the 
face. "I love you. Nothing else matters to me. Lance can try anything, but I 
will always prevail because I love you and I know that I can count on you. I 
know that our love is unconditional. You know that I love you more than 
anything else in the world."
	"Anything," Misty asked.
	"Anything," I assured her.
	"I love you, Bob Shepardson," Misty said, and the two of us embraced.
	"I love you, too," I said. "Misty Shepardson." I heard her laugh. We let 
go, and kissed on the lips. She laid her head on my shoulder again, and the 
two of us sat there, looking at the moon and the stars.
	Our love is like the universe, I thought. It is never ending. It is 
impossible to see it fully. It isn't fully understandable by anyone else. It 
is something so vast, so huge, that nothing can get in its way.
	At that moment, as the two of us sat there staring at the stars, I felt 
something that I had not ever felt before. I felt a presence of something 
unexplainable. I felt a presence of foreboding. But most of all, I felt the 
love between Misty and I. I knew that this love was unbreakable. It would 
last...forever...
-                                         End of Chapter Eighteen            
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-                                         End of The Dragon Master V         
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