The Dragon Master V: Chapter Nine

	"What are you doing here," I questioned my father, who was wearing his dark 
brown cloak.
	"Just some business for the League," Giovanni replied, shrugging his 
shoulders. "What about you? Squandering the rest of your life at this dojo? 
I think not."
	"What do you want," I asked Giovanni.
	"I was ordered by Lance to bring you in," Giovanni said. "And that's just 
what I'm going to do." There were about a hundred Team Rocket members 
closing in on us.
	"Any ideas," William asked me. "Are these guys even advancing on us? I 
can't hear them."
	"Yes and no," I replied to William. "Yes, they're advancing on us. And no, 
I don't have any ideas."
	"Looks like you two could use some help," said a voice from the stairs. I 
turned around to face it. It was Duplica.
	"That'd be great," I said.
	"Okay," Duplica said, calling her bow. She then created a bunch of arrows 
out of nothing, and strung them all at once. She let the arrows go, and 
about ten Team Rocket members dropped to the ground.
	"I taught her well," William said, hearing the screams of pain that the 
arrows had inflicted. I called my cloak, and my hood covered my face in 
shadows. I called my katana to my side. I made my way to my father, slicing 
any Team Rocket member across the throat if he wandered too closely.
	"Ready, son," Giovanni asked.
	"Does it matter," I queried my father.
	"I suppose that it doesn't," Giovanni said, shrugging his shoulders. I 
unfastened the button at the neck of cloak, letting it fall to the ground. 
Giovanni did the same, except his button was his Earth badge.
	"Let's go," I said, gripping my katana tight. Giovanni summoned dirt 
particles to come up from the ground to create a full-length sword. I swung 
at his head immediately, but he deflected the attack with his sword. He 
swung at me with his long dirt sword, hitting the side of my knee with the 
flat of his sword. My knee buckled, and I fell to the ground on one knee, 
just in time to block another blow from his sword. I swung my katana at his 
feet, but he back flipped into the air, and back ten feet. As he hit the 
ground, the floorboards shook. My other leg gave out, and I was sprawled out 
on the ground.
	"FISSURE," Giovanni yelled, stamping the ground with one foot. The boards 
on the ground splintered as the powerful ground attack raced towards me. I 
saw it coming towards me, so I rolled out of the way. The attack missed me, 
but kept on going and hit one of the walls in the training hall, causing it 
to collapse.
	"Dragon Claw," I said, degenerating my katana. My fingers extended about an 
inch, making them as sharp as my katana. I pushed myself up with my palms. I 
raced at Giovanni as fast as my knee would allow me to. I jumped in the air 
and twisted around with my arms extended. I was spinning so fast, Giovanni 
didn't have time to react to my attack. His sword dissipated into dust by my 
claws. I retracted my claws, and sent a roundhouse kick at his head. He put 
up his right arm to block, and used his left to try and get in a quick jab. 
I grabbed his left wrist, back stepped, and threw him over my back, but he 
landed right on his feet again. Still holding his left wrist with my right, 
I sent my left fist his way, but he brought up his knee, blocked it, and 
pushed off of my shoulder, lifting him into the air. Giovanni did a flip, 
landed on his feet again, and lifted up his leg to do an axe kick to take 
out my shoulder blade. I blocked it with my hands, grabbing it. Giovanni, 
however, accounted for this by jumping up with his other foot, twirling in 
the air, and kicking me right in the face. I let go of his leg, and he 
repositioned himself on his feet.
	"Ah," Giovanni said. "Looks like I drew first blood." I felt my lip, and 
came down with blood on my fingers.
	"Go to hell," I told my father.
	"It's not like I have anywhere else to go," Giovanni replied sarcastically. 
This enraged me, and I was just running towards him, when Koga burst into 
the room, along with a hundred Poison trainers, give or take a few.
	"RETREAT," a Team Rocket member yelled.
	"See you later, son," Giovanni said, throwing a rope up to a windowpane on 
the ceiling. The grappling hook caught, and he climbed up the rope. All of 
the Team Rocket members that weren't injured or dead also left. Koga came up 
to me, surveying the scene of dead and dying Team Rocket members.
	"Half of you, take the injured ones to the infirmary," Koga ordered. "You 
other half, give the dead proper burial." I was surprised at Koga's 
humanity.
	"What are you going to do with the ones that survive," I asked Koga.
	"I'm going to offer them positions as Poison trainers," Koga stated, 
watching his trainers go to work. "If they refuse, they'll go to jail."
	"I see," I replied.
	"Go back to bed," Koga said. "My trainers will take care of everything." I 
nodded, but I knew that I wouldn't sleep knowing that my father was still 
out there, doing Lance's biddings...
	I went back to my room, and sat on my bed. I was thinking what mission 
Lance could possibly have Giovanni on. That's when it hit me. Giovanni was 
after me. He must've somehow learned that I was staying here during the 
night. That Poison trainer, I thought suddenly. He's the one that bugged my 
room, letting Giovanni know that I was here!
	I fell back onto my pillow, and lay awake for hours, because I couldn't 
sleep. I now thought that I knew what Lance wanted out of this. He just 
wanted to torture me. He knew how much pain being away from Misty was 
causing me. But he didn't know what I was planning at the Pokemon Master 
meeting. All he knew was that I was trying to get to him.
	When morning came, I had gotten no sleep from the time we were attacked to 
the time the sun rose. I went down the stairs to the training hall, where 
Erika, Duplica, and William were already saying goodbye to Koga and Janine. 
I called my teal cloak, and went and joined them.
	"Bob," Koga said, extending his hand to me. "I wish you luck on your 
journeys."
	"Thanks," I said, shaking his hand. "And I hope that you realize the 
mistake you have made in staying under Lance's control." Koga didn't smile 
at what I just said. Janine seemed distant from everyone else. It was as if 
she was still brooding over our conversation last night.
	"Janine," Koga said. "Let us continue our training." William started to 
look uncomfortable.
	"You might want to restock your dummies filled with sand," he said, using 
his cane to make his way out the door. Erika, Duplica, and I followed him 
out the door, Koga and Janine still looking at us.
	We started walking on the route to Silence Bridge. I remembered this as the 
place where Ash, Misty, Brock, and I had to dive in the water to escape 
Lance's clutches. Whether that has happened in this reality, I wasn't sure, 
because I had no one to ask.
	"Where are we headed next," William asked. "I've never been in this part of 
this country, so I'm flying blind, pardon the pun."
	"Saffron City," I said. "I think that Sabrina will help us."
	"You're going to trust Sabrina," Erika exclaimed.
	"Yeah," I said. "She helped us when we tried to take on Lance the first 
time."
	"She's very loyal to the League," Duplica said. "It's like she switched 
sides again once we lost."
	"Maybe she'll flip flop again," I said.
	"I doubt it," Erika said. "It's like they brainwashed her. Well, I guess 
that she's always acted like that...but now, she won't talk to anybody who 
isn't a Gym Leader or Elite Four member. It's kinda creepy."
	"She's always been creepy," I stated. "Why won't she talk to you? You're a 
Gym leader."
	"Not anymore," Erika said. "My license was revoked about a week ago. They 
said that they found a replacement."
	"Well, we'll just have to go and meet your replacement," I said. "Do you 
have any ideas who it is?"
	"No," Erika said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's like they're planning 
something big."
	"Like usual," I said. "But we have to work fast. We only have four days 
before two big things happen."
	"What two things," William asked, not here for that part of the 
conversation that took place when I first met Erika again.
	"Bruno will be executed on the twenty first," I explained. "Also, Misty and 
Ash are getting married that day at the Palace of the Elite Four."
	"Wait," Erika said. "How are we going to get from Cherrygrove City to 
Indigo Plateau on the same day? Besides, Misty will most likely get married 
in the morning. That will be the same time that Bruno will be executed."
	"We can do it," I said, unsure myself about how that feat would be 
accomplished.
	"But how can we be sure," Erika asked, not letting this go.
	"Just trust me," I said, winking, ending the conversation. By this time, we 
had already reached Silence Bridge. Actually, we were halfway through it. 
The reason that this half was different than the first half was because 
there were many people fishing there. As I was passing by, I heard two 
people's conversation.
	"Hey," one guy said. "Did you know that they're offering money if we help 
capture some renegade Pokemon Masters?"
	"How much," the guy next to him asked.
	"One million Pokedollars," the first guy said while his friend's jaw 
dropped.
	"Think we could do it," the second guy asked.
	"Yeah," the first guy responded. "Pokemon Masters aren't that strong. 
Besides, my water pokemon could slaughter that Dragon Master. I heard that 
he's a wimp." Duplica sensed the danger that was going on. She stopped in 
her tracks, and William ran into the back of her. Erika kept on walking, and 
turned back to look at me standing right behind the fisherman. I tapped him 
on the shoulder.
	"Can't you see I'm busy," the fisherman said grumpily. I was wearing my 
teal cloak, and his friend turned around and saw me. I tapped him again. He 
finally turned around. "What do you want?" I didn't even answer him. My 
cloak was covering my entire figure, so he couldn't see my fists clenched. 
In one quick motion, I took my hands out of my cloak, and backhanded the 
fisherman across the face, making him fly twenty feet away, splashing into 
the water.
	"Don't talk about people behind their backs," I said simply, walking on. 
Three police officers ran down the dock to check out the problem.
	"What the fuck," the first officer asked, seeing me, and then the man 
unconscious in the water. The fisherman's friend was already swimming out to 
collect him.
	"Get him," the second police officer said. The three guards ran at me, 
nightsticks being pulled out as they came. I called my katana, and hit the 
first cop's ankles with the flat of the sword, making him fly into the 
water. Another guard ran at me, which I jumped into the air, and fired a 
roundhouse kick directly at his face, sending him sailing into the water. 
The last guard came to me, whom I kicked his feet out from underneath of 
him.
	"Would now be a good time to go," Duplica asked sarcastically. I nodded, 
while running towards Lavender Town. More police officers came running 
towards us, but William sent a Powder Snow at them, making the dock slick, 
and the cops fell into the water. When we reached Lavender Town, we ran by 
the PokeCenter, which sounded a bell, signaling that it was already noon.
	"Where are we going," Duplica asked, following my lead.
	"Over yonder," I said.
	"Which means," Duplica asked, still not knowing where we were going.
	"Simply what it means," I said, jerking my head towards the route headed to 
Saffron City. She nodded, finally understanding. People stared at the four 
Pokemon Masters, one being blind, running through the streets of Lavender 
Town. We made it through the town, League guards on our tail the entire 
time. Once we got on the route, I dived in the bushes. Duplica, Erika, and 
William followed suit. The four of us watched the League guards run by.
	"Whew," I said, turning around, and leaning against the tree that I was 
hiding behind. As my head was facing down, I closed my eyes for a bit of 
rest. I felt cold steel against my neck, and I looked up into the eyes of 
Mysticman John Flargini. He had his black katana at my throat.
	"Why hello, Bob," John said, smiling. Then he stopped smiling. "Stand up." 
Erika called her ebony staff, Duplica her bow, and William twisted his cane 
a quarter turn twice, making it into the one and a half foot long staff 
first, and then into the full-length three-feet staff.
	"Put your sword down," Duplica said, drawing an arrow into her bow.
	"How about you put your weapons down," John said. I heard the clicks of 
guns cocking behind us, and that told me that the League guards were 
standing behind them, guns at the ready to fire.
	"I'd do it," I told my companions. "Though not because this sick bastard 
wants you to. Just do it for your own safety. We still have a mission to 
finish."
	"No, you don't," John said, shaking his head. "I'm turning you into Lance, 
after I get through interrogating you, that is." John nodded to the guards. 
I heard four shots, but they weren't from regular guns. They were from 
tranquilizer guns. I felt a needle in my neck, and I fell to the ground 
along with my companions. The last thing I saw was John Flargini's face...
-                                         End of Chapter Nine                
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