The Dragon Master V: Chapter Eight

	Marcus and I stood opposite one another, our two pokemon standing in the 
middle of us, one waiting for the other to attack. I decided to go first.
	"RAIN DANCE," I shouted. Rain started to pour from the sky.
	"Fool," Marcus said. "You've just multiplied Feraligatr's attack!"
	"Who's the fool," I asked. "Puff, Thunderstorm!" Thunder rolled across the 
sky, and lightening struck a spot right beside Feraligatr.
	"DRAAAA," Puff yelled, pleased.
	"Scared yet," I asked to Marcus.
	"Not in your wildest dreams," Marcus replied.
	"This is all just a wild dream to me," I explained. "And now it's time to 
end it! HYPER BLAST!" Puff opened its mouth wide, and drew in energy from 
the storm. At that moment, a tiny beam was fired from Puff's mouth, headed 
directly at Feraligatr.
	"That's it," Marcus scoffed. "Go ahead and take the hit, Feraligatr." The 
beam sped towards Feraligatr, and the pokemon looked just as arrogant as its 
master. I'll show them the power of a Dragon Master, I thought. At the point 
where the beam was an inch from Feraligatr, it erupted into a massive ray of 
energy. It hit the Feraligatr full on, and Marcus was shocked.
	"Fer-r-r-r," Feraligatr said, struggling to get up.
	"GET UP," Marcus yelled. "GET UP AND USE HYDRO PUMP!" Obediently, the 
Feraligatr got to its feet and blew a stream of water at Puff.
	"FLY," I shouted at Puff. Puff flew up into the sky, making the Hydro Pump 
miss. "THUNDER!" Electricity discharged from Puff, headed directly at 
Feraligatr. Again, Feraligatr was hit full on with another attack. Not 
wanting to disappoint its master, Feraligatr got up again.
	"Keep it up, Feraligatr," Marcus encouraged his pokemon.
	"Doesn't this thing go down," I asked Puff, who shrugged his shoulders.
	Over by where Team Aqua was, Duplica, William, and Erika were fighting the 
other pokemon.
	"Azumarril," a Team Aqua member shouted. "Water Surge, now!" The Azumarril 
let out a powerful blast at Duplica's Ditto.
	"Transform," Duplica said. Her Ditto changed into an Azumarril. "Swift!" 
Ditto-Azumarril started to spin around, and stars flew out of the spinning 
figure, each star hitting the Azumarril, knocking it out.
	"Let's gang up on it," another Team Aqua member, pointing to William's 
Sneasel, which has already taken out five pokemon single-handedly. Sneasel 
was pitted against a Wartortle, a Slowbro, and a Mantine, which was hovering 
above the ground since it wasn't in water.
	"Sneasel, Fury Cutter," William said, knowing what pokemon Sneasel was 
facing because of the noises that the opposing pokemon made.
	"Wartortle, Water Gun," one Team Aqua member said.
	"Slowbro, Mega Punch," another Team Aqua member ordered.
	"Mantine, Surf," a third Team Aqua member commanded his pokemon. The three 
pokemon sent their attacks, and Slowbro charged forward with a Mega Punch. 
Sneasel ran forward, first giving the Slowbro a cut across the face with its 
weakness, Bug. Then it sprinted over to the Wartortle, and severed it 
diagonally the stomach. Sneasel then continued to the Mantine, whose attack 
he had to dodge first before spinning around and hitting Mantine twice with 
a Fury Cutter attack.
	"Anyone else," William asked the Team Aqua members.
	Erika was having an even easier time, as all of her opponents had a 
weakness to Grass.
	"Leech Seed," Erika yelled to her Bellossum, who shot a seed at an upcoming 
Quagsire. The attack hit Quagsire sucking out all of the energy from it, and 
boosting Bellossum with energy.
	"Water Gun, Seaking," a Team Aqua member told his water pokemon.
	"Bellossum, Solarbeam," Erika yelled. Since Bellossum was so full of 
energy, it fired one right away, oblivious to the Rain Dance taking place. 
The Seaking was shot twenty yards away because of the force of the attack.
	Puff and the Feraligatr were still fighting. I wanted to finish this up 
quickly, as Puff hadn't even taken a hit yet.
	"Dragon, Dragonight, Scarlet, Aeroy, Flare," I yelled, throwing out my 
remaining five pokeballs. "Go help William, Erika, and Duplica with Team 
Aqua." The five dragons sped away to help my companions.
	"DRAAAA," Puff yelled in anticipation of the soon to be victory.
	"That's right Puff," I said. "Let's finish this. ELEMENTAL STORM!" Fire, 
ice, and lightening came down from the sky directly at Feraligatr.
	"Brace yourself," Marcus yelled. Feraligatr fell to all fours, and buried 
its hands and feet in the ground. The attack hit him hard, but the fire and 
the ice barely damaged him because of its resistance. The thunder went right 
through Feraligatr and into the ground, absorbing it.
	"What the hell," I asked Puff. Puff didn't know, either.
	"BLIZZARD," Marcus shouted. He was finally giving up on the water attacks. 
Puff, not expecting the speed of the mass of ice, was hit with it, and 
knocked back at least fifteen feet.
	"Puff, retaliate with Thunderpunch," I shouted. Puff got up, and his fists 
were charged with electricity. However, Feraligatr was already waiting for 
it to get up
	"DYNAMIC PUNCH," Marcus shouted at his now winning pokemon. Feraligatr hit 
Puff with a blow to the face, then to the stomach, and an uppercut to launch 
Puff up into the air fifty feet.
	"NO," I yelled at my pokemon.
	"ROCK SLIDE," Marcus shouted. As Puff was falling down to Earth, Feraligatr 
was chucking rocks at up into the air at Puff. They were falling faster than 
Puff, because he was trying to gain flight by flapping his wings. When Puff 
hit the ground, rocks were strewn all over the place, and Feraligatr was 
already over by Puff, and picked him up over his head.
	"Puff, do something," I pleaded my nearly beaten pokemon.
	"SEISMIC TOSS," Marcus Waterflower yelled at Feraligatr. Puff knew that he 
was going to be thrown, and that it would most likely knock him out, so he 
used Thunder on Feraligatr. Hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity 
were flowing through Feraligatr's body, and at an even faster rate because 
of its water element. Feraligatr fell over, and Puff caught himself using 
his wings. I stuck two fingers in my mouth and blew them as hard as I could. 
Duplica, Erika, William, and the rest of pokemon that were busy picking off 
what was left of Team Aqua all turned to me.
	"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE," I yelled. "EVERYONE, HOP ON A DRAGON!" Dragonight 
sped over to William, who recalled Sneasel and hopped on. Erika returned 
Bellossum, and Duplica returned Ditto, which was now in the form of a 
Blastoise. I recalled Scarlet. I hopped on Flare, Erika on Dragon, and 
Duplica on Aeroy. I recalled Puff, and put him on my belt.
	The four of us sped off to Fuchsia City, where we had to find some place to 
lie low while everything cooled down. When we reached the gates of Fuchsia 
City, I recalled all of my pokemon, and walked through. Some League guards 
were standing by the booth, but they were watching a pokemon battle on TV, 
and couldn't be disturbed if they wanted to be.
	"Now it's your turn," Duplica said. "Where's your contact?"
	"It's Janine," I said. "I saved her from the League, and well, what goes 
around comes around." The four of us went into the Gym, and many trainers 
were standing around training. I went up to one of them.
	"Can I help you," the young boy, dressed in a bright purple jumpsuit.
	"I need to speak to Janine," I said.
	"She is in training with her father and aunt," the young boy said. "Over 
there." He pointed to a door at the end of the Gym and bowed. I said my 
thanks, and walked through the double doors, finding myself face to face 
with two Poison trainers. They each had a wooden staff, which they crossed 
the moment I tried to step through the doors.
	"Let me through," I said pleasantly. They just stood there, completely 
unmoving. "Let me through." They didn't move a muscle. "Don't make me tell 
you again." Koga must have heard the disturbance, because he appeared behind 
the Poison trainers. He looked surprised to see me.
	"Bob," Koga said in shock.
	"I need to speak with Janine," I told him.
	"For what," Koga spat. "To bring her on another quest where she will nearly 
die? Not in your wildest dreams. Janine is staying here to complete her 
ninja training."
	"I just need to speak with her," I said. "Across a phone if necessary. I 
just need to talk with her." Koga thought about it.
	"Fight me," Koga said. "If you can defeat me, then you may speak with 
Janine. Does that sound fair to you?"
	"Yeah," I replied. "What weapon?"
	"Your choice," Koga replied.
	"Katana," I chose. I knew that that was Koga's strong suit, but I had no 
other weapon.
	"Very well," Koga said. He snapped his fingers, and the guards allowed me 
to pass. I saw Aya and Janine battling.
	"Ready," I asked Koga. He nodded.
	"Clear the floor," Koga said, moving his hand in a sweeping motion once. 
All of the Poison trainers, and Aya and Janine, cleared the floor. Janine 
had an odd expression on her face at my appearance. I winked at her. She 
still seemed confused as Aya drug her to the area behind Koga. William, 
Duplica, and Erika stood in the area behind me. Koga and I, who both had our 
cloaks on, took them off. Koga's dissipated into a bright purple smoke, and 
mine into a teal smoke.
	I called my teal katana, and Koga called his deadly silver katana. If even 
the tip nipped my skin, I would be severely poisoned. I had to guard myself 
carefully.
	"Let's go," Koga said
	"You first," I spoke. Koga darted at me, katana held high. I blocked with 
my katana, and he swung again. I parried that swing, and I kept on swinging. 
Koga seemed surprised at my agility and quickness.
	"Poison Sting," Koga shouted at me, pointing his katana at me. White spikes 
shot of out the tip of the katana, and directly at me. I swung my katana at 
each of them, knocking them all to the ground. Careful not to touch the 
spines, I flipped them up at Koga. Koga didn't expect that from me, and the 
small needles hit him. Trying to dodge the attack, he barrel rolled in the 
air, but was hit anyway. He fell to the ground, but got up anyway.
	"Dragon Slice," I said. I swung my katana through the air, and a teal beam 
of vertical energy rotated through the air, headed directly at Koga. He 
dodged the attack by back flipping away from it.
	"Toxic Surf," Koga said, looking at the ground. Toxic waste seeped through 
the ground, and became a wave of lethality headed directly for me.
	"ELEMENTAL IMBALANCE," I yelled. My eyes glowed silver, and the wave 
engulfed me. Right after it did so, however, it was shot right back at its 
originator four times the size that it came at me.
	Koga waved his hand at the poison attack, and it fell into non-harmful 
substance on the floor. Koga leaped high into the air at me, and I called my 
wings, and flew there. Koga swung his sharp sword at my left wing, and I 
barrel rolled out of the way. I rammed right into Koga's stomach, knocking 
him down to the ground.
	As we were falling to the ground, Koga somehow came out on top, and I 
landed on the bottom. His katana was to my neck, ready to penetrate if 
necessary. My katana was five feet away, stuck in the wooden floor.
	"You fight as if I trained you," Koga said. "Though I don't remember 
training you."
	"You wouldn't," I said. "But one thing that you told me was..."
	"Was what," Koga asked.
	"Never underestimate your opponent," I said, using Dragon Claw to sharpen 
my fingers and knock his katana away. I used my legs to kick him over my 
head. My katana zoomed to my hand; I turned to Koga and placed it at his 
throat.
	"Koga," Aya yelled.
	"Did I win yet," I asked Koga, my old ally turned enemy by Lance's twisted 
reality.
	"Yes," Koga said. I pulled my katana away from him, and called it away from 
me. His katana had also disappeared. Koga got up, and I started to talk over 
to Janine. He stopped me.
	"What," I asked.
	"You will have five minutes in a room supervised by me," Koga said. "Also, 
you will not talk to her until tonight, after supper."
	"We can't stay that long," I protested.
	"Then I guess talking to Janine isn't that important," Koga smirked. "After 
you speak with her, it shall be night, and you and your companions may stay 
in the guest rooms. If you choose not to stay, then you may not see Janine."
	"Let me speak to Janine alone," I said.
	"You are not in a position for bargaining," Koga said, now getting angry.
	"Want me to fight you again," I asked. Koga looked at his sister and 
daughter.
	"No," he replied. "There is no more need for this sort of violence. You may 
speak to Janine alone, provided that you follow my conditions. Agreed?"
	"Agreed," I replied. "You have my word." I shook his hand. I walked back to 
Duplica, Erika, and William.
	"Well fought," William said. "You used attacks that I've never heard of."
	"That's because I invented them myself," I replied.
	"Ah," William said.
	"Why aren't you talking with Janine," Erika asked.
	"Koga won't let me speak with her until tonight," I said. "We'll have to 
stay here overnight."
	"What," Duplica asked. "We have to keep moving. Just because you and Janine 
need to talk can't slow us down."
	"Listen," I said. "Right now we need more Masters. Four Masters against 
five Masters and an army is hardly fair at this point. The more allies, the 
better."
	"But you can't," Duplica argued. "We have to resolve-"
	"Duplica," William interrupted. "We have to trust Bob's judgment on this 
one. We can handle whatever comes our way. Just be patient." William then 
pulled his nine-inch rod out of its holster, turned it a three quarters 
turn, making it an eighteen-inch rod. He then turned it a quarter turn, and 
his cane shot out of the end. Using it, he went across the floor to a Poison 
trainer, who directed him to the rooms.
	"This isn't fair," Duplica complained. "You won. You should be able to talk 
to Janine now!"
	"I know," I said. "But we have to abide by his rules by now." Duplica 
started to complain, but Erika gave her a look that told her to shut up. 
Duplica didn't utter another word. I walked up to my room, aware that all of 
the Poison trainers were staring at me in awe because of the defeat of their 
master. I looked at the clock on the wall before I made my way upstairs. It 
was just after noon. I had a lot of time to kill.
	"Bob," Janine stopped me.
	"Janine," I replied, turning to her.
	"Why are you here," she asked me.
	"I can't say just now," I said, looking away. "You'll know everything after 
dinner."
	"But," Janine started, but I had already gone upstairs. I opened the door 
to my room, and stepped in. I lay down on my bed, and stared up at the 
ceiling. The light happened to right above my bed, and I stared at that for 
a while. After a couple of seconds, I realized that there was something 
inside the light because one of the corners was dark. I stood up on my bed, 
and pulled off the light cover. On the corner of the light was some sort of 
device. I pulled it down, and saw that there was a tape inside of it. I 
looked at it, and crushed it in my hand.
	"Son of a bitch," I said. Koga was bugging me. I sat down on my bed, 
wondering what I should do for the next six hours before dinner. As my head 
hit the pillow, my subconscious had already decided that I was going to 
sleep. I was out like a light.
	When I woke up, Duplica was shaking me awake. I got up groggily, though it 
was nighttime. I stood up out of my bed, called my cloak, and followed 
Duplica downstairs to the dining hall. When were entered, I saw a huge long 
table in the middle of the room filled with food. Koga was at the head of 
the table, Janine and Aya on either side of him, and Erika next to Aya. 
Janine was sitting in the empty seat next to William, which was saved for 
me. After those chairs, there were dozens of Poison trainers, all varying in 
rank.
	I took the seat that was beside William, who was busy fingering the Braille 
lettering beside the dishes of food that Koga had graciously provided for 
him.
	"Interesting, Koga," William said. "How did you know that I could even read 
Braille? Because if I couldn't, then you would've gone through all this 
trouble for nothing."
	"Shouldn't all blind people be able to read Braille," Koga asked.
	"Actually, no," William said. "I didn't learn to read Braille until I was 
fourteen. And there are many blind people that don't know how to read 
Braille."
	"I see," Koga said, apparently not interested because his eyes gave it 
away. However, his voice disguised it very well.
	"But," William said. "I understand that I am boring you. So I will cease 
with this talk."
	"How did you know," Koga asked, obviously surprised.
	"I didn't," William smirked. Koga looked furious with himself while William 
smiled. Janine snickered, while Aya gave her a stern look.
	"Well," Koga said. "Now, down to business." Everyone started t dish up 
food. "Where would you like to speak with Janine at?"
	"Anyplace that isn't bugged," I said, looking at Koga furiously.
	"What are you talking about," Koga asked.
	"I found a tape recorder in my light fixture," I said. "If you didn't put 
it there, then who did? Your trainers?"
	"They wouldn't," Koga said.
	"Whatever," I said. I noticed that one of the higher ranked Poison trainers 
was listening into our conversation. I shifted my eyes to his, and he looked 
away.
	"So," Koga said, breaking the awkward silence. "Where would you like to 
meet at?"
	"The training room," I replied. I then lowered my voice to an undertone. 
"But I might change my mind. Talk to me alone after dinner." He nodded, and 
I got the feeling that Koga now trusted me. However, he didn't trust me 
enough to let his daughter come with me, I thought.
	Dinner went along very well. Nobody really talked, but I kept a close eye 
on that Poison trainer. I had a suspicion about him...
	After dinner, all the Poison trainers left, and the seven of us Masters 
were left. The service came in and took all he dishes away. After I made 
sure that we were alone, I broke the quiet.
	"I would like to speak with Janine in here," I said to Koga. "I think one 
of your Poison trainers is working against you. I led him to believe that we 
would be speaking in the training room. Instead, I would like to talk here, 
where there is less chance of us being heard."
	"I see," Koga said. "I will leave you for five minutes. Goodbye." He 
nodded, and left with the other Masters.
	"What do you want to talk to me about," Janine asked.
	"I need your help," I told her. "You know about the meeting for all Pokemon 
Masters, right?"
	"Yeah," Janine replied. "Every Pokemon Master in Kanto and Johto will be 
there."
	"Exactly," I said. "Remember how we went on a quest to kill Lance years 
ago?"
	"How could I forget," she asked sarcastically.
	"We're going to finish the job," I said. "But, at the same time, we're 
going to take out the Elite Four while we're at it."
	"Why," Janine asked.
	"It will create a better life for everyone," I explained. "You have to 
trust me, Janine."
	"The last time I did that, I was facing a treason charge for plotting 
against the League," Janine said.
	"Listen," I said. "I'm not asking much here. All I'm asking is-"
	"For me to come with you and take over the League again," Janine 
interrupted.
	"No," I said. "All I'm asking is for you to go to the Pokemon Master 
meeting. I'll be there, too, and that's where we'll take out Lance once and 
for all."
	"This is insane," Janine said. "We failed four years ago. What makes you 
think we can beat Lance when he has four more years more power than he did."
	"I also have more power than I did four years ago," I said. "So do you, and 
everyone else that helped us."
	"We don't have everyone that we did four years ago," Janine exclaimed. "How 
do you think that we can be stronger? Honestly now! I don't see a way!"
	"Then you're not looking hard enough," I said. "We have a Pokemon Master 
that they've never seen before! We have the upper hand here!"
	"Who's this Master that they've never seen before, huh," Janine asked.
	"William," I said.
	"The blind Ice Master," Janine scoffed. "What good can he possibly be if he 
can't even see if someone's attacking him? How could he take someone out of 
the Elite Four?"
	"He can surprise a lot of people," I said. "He's as accurate as anyone I've 
ever seen with a bow. He's kicked the shit out of numerous League guards! So 
how can you say that he can't be an asset if you've never seen him fight?"
	"He's blind," Janine half-shouted at me.
	"His other four senses are sharp," I said. "You'd be surprised!"
	"Maybe I don't want to," Janine said, turning around and folding her arms.
	"Don't be stubborn," I said. "I fought Koga just to talk to you. Don't 
disappoint me!"
	"Well," Janine said, still not turning around. "I guess you'll just have to 
come to terms with the fact that I just don't do that anymore." My jaw 
dropped at what I was hearing.
	"Fine," I said. "You'll regret this once Lance has done something with this 
League that isn't anything good." I started to walk away.
	"Wait," she said. "So I don't have to come with you?"
	"I'm not asking you to," I said. "All you have to do is show up at the 
meeting and side with us. We're going to be outnumbered, but it will benefit 
everyone but the evildoers." I turned around to face her. She looked torn in 
between two worlds, both in which she wanted to be a part of.
	"I...I...I," she started. "I can't, Bob." She looked truly sad about it. I 
walked up to her. I extended my hand.
	"I guess that we'll meet again," I said. She took my hand and shook it.
	"I guess," Janine said. At that moment, Koga walked in.
	"Time's up, Bob," Koga stated.
	"I know," I said. I let go of her hand, and walked out of the dining hall, 
through the empty training hall, up the stairs, and into my room. I lay out 
on my bed, staring at the ceiling once again. There was nothing in the light 
fixture this time. I looked at the clock. It said that it was nine o'clock. 
I degenerated my cloak and fell asleep.
	I woke up in the middle of night. For some reason, I couldn't sleep because 
it was too quiet out. I got out of bed, and walked down to the training room 
because I wanted to walk around for a little bit. However, someone was 
already down there. It was William.
	William was standing on one edge of the room, fully dressed in an ice blue 
ninja outfit and his cloak. He also had on a pair of ice blue sunglasses. He 
was facing the wall, his nose about an inch from it. His cloak was draped 
over his shoulders so he had easy access to the holster on his side that 
contained his nine-inch rod. His hand was hovering over the holster. 
Suddenly, two human-shaped dummies fell from the ceiling attached to ropes 
about six feet from, William. At the impact of the dummies that he heard, he 
drew his nine-inch rod and twisted the top inch a quarter turn. A two and a 
quarter feet blade shot out of the nine-inch rod. Using his three-feet hilt 
less sword, William back flipped towards the first dummy, and stabbed the 
mannequin right through the heart would be on a real person. As he withdrew 
his sword, sand poured out of the wound in the dummy. William then turned to 
the second dummy and sliced its head off, sand flying everywhere.
	Three more dummies feel from the ceiling ten feet in front of the other 
two, and closer to me. As William ran towards the two dummies, he retracted 
the sword with a quarter turn, made his short staff longer with a three 
quarters turn, formed the full three feet staff with another quarter turn, 
and created his nun chucks with a final full rotation. William flipped the 
nun chucks over and over in his hands, and spun them fast enough to cut the 
rope off the first dummy, hit the second dummy with a hard blow to the back 
so hard that it ripped the seam on the front, so sand poured out. William 
faced the third dummy, and hit it in several areas very fast. William back 
flipped away after about twenty blows. Once he landed, sand poured out from 
all of the spots where William had hit the dummy.
	Four more mannequins filled with sand came down from the ceiling. William 
heard them thump on the ground, and twisted the tip of one of his nun chucks 
a full rotation, so it transformed into the three feet staff. William 
charged at the dummies, and struck the first one in the head with his staff 
while simultaneously hitting a second dummy with his foot. He ducked down, 
sweeping the third dummy's feet out from underneath of it with his staff. 
William then sent a quick blow to the last dummy's face with his fist. He 
wouldn't be satisfied until he drew sand, though. William jumped again, 
nailing the first dummy with the edge of the staff, snapping the rope, and 
"knocking out" the mannequin. William hit the second dummy on one side, 
bursting open the other side, sand flowing out. William sent a roundhouse 
kick the way of the third dummy. The kick hit right around the chin area, 
snapping the dummy's head back, causing the material in the neck to snap, 
and sand to flow out. William was ten feet away from the second dummy. He 
threw his staff right at the midsection of the final dummy. Racing the 
staff, William jumped over the dummy at the same instant that it went 
through the dummy. He caught it coming out of the other side, and watched 
the sand drain out of the last dummy.
	Just as I thought that William was done with his training, one last dummy 
comes down from the ceiling. This one had more detail to it. It had a teal 
cloak on, and the same hairstyle as Lance did. Once William heard the dummy 
hit the floor, he turned the midsection of his staff a half turn, changing 
it into his weapon of choice, his bow. Quickly, William drew an arrow out of 
the quiver that was on his back and hidden by his cloak. He strung the 
arrow, and let the arrow fly. William's arrow hit the imitation of Lance 
right in the forehead, and it went straight through. Sand was pouring out 
either side of the wound.
	"Like the show, Bob," William asked.
	"How did you," I started, but he cut me off.
	"I heard you come in when I first started my session," William said. "Did 
you like it?"
	"Yeah," I said. "That was great. You're good."
	"Thanks," William said. "I have a similar system at home. But it has a few 
diff-" Before William could finish his sentence, I heard the windows above 
the training hall shatter. Dozens of figures were falling through the air. 
As they landed on the ground, I recognized them.
	"Team Rocket," I said, spotting Giovanni in the center of the mass of them.
	"Son," he said. "How good to see you again." He started to laugh evilly. I 
did not know what he was capable of in this reality...
-                                         End of Chapter Eight               
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