EVERYONE: - Complete The Dragon Master II

[TheDragonMaster]

'The Dragon Master II'

a bit of language, but again bleeped out.

The Dragon Master II: Chapter One

Here I am, Bob Shepardson, once more, sitting on top of the Goldenrod City Radio Tower in my teal hooded cloak. This is my spot of relaxation. It’s where I come to escape the stresses of being Pokemon League Champion. It is a clear, calm day just because I choose it to be. I control the weather, as I am The Dragon Master. Things have been going well since the takeover of “evil” League by me and twelve other Pokemon Masters. I have been Pokemon League Champion since then, that day that I killed Lance, my brother, not by blood, as his mother, Delilah Largway, adopted me. He killed his mother behind my back and framed me for it. He revealed himself and I killed him, angered by what he had done. I then was given the spot of Pokemon League Champion since I had “defeated” the old Champion.
I had just celebrated my fifteenth birthday and had been going out for a year with Misty; the Water Master and one of the Pokemon Masters that had helped me defeated the League. Things were going better than ever.
Something was flying towards me from the distance. Its wings were flapping, yet it appeared to be human all the same. It was Falkner, the Flying Master, also one of the Masters that had helped me. He came up to me and landed on the tower.
“Hey, Falkner,” I greeted him. “What have you been up to?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Falkner apologized. They all called me “sir” since I was the League Champion. “We don’t have any time for talk, as there’s an emergency at the League headquarters.”
“Two things,” I told him. “Don’t call me sir, call me Bob. Second thing, what kind of emergency?”
“A big one,” Falkner said. “You must come to the League immediately.” I degenerated my cloak and created my wings. I then jumped off the tower and took flight. Falkner followed me. We were headed for the Palace of the Elite Four.
When we got there, the guards, both of whom were very cautious, immediately let us in. I entered a room where all of the other Masters were in. Ash, a Dark Master; Misty, a Water Master; Brock, a Rock Master; Lt. Surge, a Thunder Master; Sabrina, a Psychic Master; Erika, a Grass Master; Aya, a Poison Master; Blaine, a Fire Master; Giovanni, a Ground Master; Janine, a Poison Master; Duplica, a Change Master; Bugsy, a Bug Master; Whitney, a Normal Master; Morty, a Ghost Master; Jasmine, a Steel Master; Chuck, a Fighting Master; Pryce, an Ice Master; Clair, a Dragon Master; Will, a Psychic Master; Koga, a Poison Master; Bruno, a Fighting Master; and Karen, a Dark Master. Falkner and I walked in into the room where all the other Masters were sitting at a table. I took my spot at the table and everybody else did the same.
“What is this emergency,” I asked with my arms folded. “Who all knows about this?” It seemed that only the Elite Four knew about this. Falkner did not know, but he had just given me the message. Karen stood up and unfolded a piece of paper.
“This was sent to us,” she said, putting on the table and pushing the paper towards me. “It is for you. We have read it, that is, us Elite Four.” I picked it up and read it. It said:


Bob,
I bet that you are wondering who on earth would be writing to you? Well, the thing is, is that I said that you would pay and you will. It will be good, exploding fun that this shall be. I bet that you don’t even know who this is. But you’ve met me before. And I warned you that you would pay. Your Master friends will pay as well. But not as much as you will. I will take away the thing that matters to you the most; even more important than your own life. Stay tuned.

From,
Mysticman John Flargini
“Who is this psychopath,” I asked Karen.
“We don’t know,” she answered me, shrugging her shoulders. “There were no fingerprints on the paper.”
“What is a mysticman,” I asked. “And why did this crazy fool say that I would pay? I didn’t do anything to him.”
“A Mysticman has special powers,” Sabrina explained. “For example, a mysticman may control anybody if they please. Another is that they can inflict amnesia. They can basically change a person’s memory status.”
“So they can alter memories,” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“John Flargini,” I said. “What kind of person would use their real name in a threat to the League? Koga, go check the systems for a John Flargini.” He walked out of the room.
“Sir,” started Will, “we have a huge problem on our hands. Most mysticmen are under control of the League. If one happened to escape, treacherous things could happen to this world.”
“I know,” I answered back with. “But we have to find him at all costs.” Koga walked back into the room.
“Bob,” Koga said. “There is no such person as John Flargini.”
“He must have been lying,” I said, as our only lead was crushed.
“Not necessarily,” Koga answered. “There is a Mr. William and Mrs. Florence Flargini currently living in Lavender Town.”
“Good,” I said. “We have to leave immediately. Koga, analyze this handwriting for everybody in Johto and Kanto.” I then called my cloak and started to walk out.
“I’m coming with you,” Misty said. She then called her cloak and followed me. I didn’t argue as we had no time for that. Besides, I just might need her help in Lavender Town. I degenerated my cloak and called my wings. Misty grabbed on to me and we took of from Indigo Plateau and headed towards Lavender Town. We landed down and headed directly for Mr. and Mrs. Flargini’s house. We went there and knocked on the door.
“Hello,” Mrs. Flargini asked us. “What are you doing here, Mr. Shepardson? We are very pleased to have the Pokemon League Champion here with us.” The people of Lavender Town have respected me since I had saved Janine, a former resident, from being taken from the town by the League. She showed Misty and I in and we took a seat at the kitchen table. She started bustling about, trying to make some tea.
“Uh…Mrs. Flargini,” I said. “You don’t have to make us any tea. We’re just here to ask about a John Flargini.”
“John Flargini,” she asked with her eyes raised. “Well, we don’t have any children, so it can’t be that. Let me check the family tree.” She went off and came back with a book. Inside were hundreds of names, and she went off checking for a John Flargini.
“Maybe it isn’t this family,” Misty whispered in my ear.
“It has to be,” I replied. “This is the only Flargini family in all of Johto and Kanto.”
“No,” she said, “there has never been a John Flargini in our of my family’s history.”
“Thank you for your time,” I thanked her. I walked out. Misty followed me, looking furious.
“What are you doing,” she asked me. “This was our only lead.”
“I know,” I said, “it’s just that-” BOOM! A rocket had blasted right into the Flargini’s house. It erupted into a ball of flames and disintegrated.
“What the h*** just happened,” I asked in rage. “What the h*** just blew up that house!?!?!?” I saw something reflect off the sun. It was a glider! I immediately took flight as my wings appeared. I was off after it. I was catching up to it, yet it was swerving out of the way. More rockets fired back at me, but I continued to dodge them. There was a man in a purple cloak with stars and moons riding the glider. Who could it be? There was only one way to find out. I sped up to match his speed. I then got right by him and pulled off his hood. It was the kid with red hair that I had beat for the Pokemon League Champion title a while ago. I was side-by-side with him.
“Nice day for flying, eh,” the kid said. His eyes glowed an unholy black, and I couldn’t keep staring into them any longer. Yet I couldn’t stop. My wings came back in. I was falling hundreds of feet towards the ground. I couldn’t bring back my wings. I couldn’t stop…
- End of Chapter One -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Two

“Wake up,” a voice said in my ear. “Wake up. O for the love of God, please wake up.” I recognized that voice. It was Misty. I immediately sat right up. It looked like I was on the route between Saffron City and Lavender Town.
“Misty,” I asked her. “Did he get away?”
“Yes,” she replied. “But he left this.” She handed me a piece of paper. I unfolded it and read it. It read:
Bob,
That was some fall. But if you are reading this, then you happened to survive. That was just a test. You are man enough to take me on. As for the explosion, it was bound to happen. They had to die eventually. Their memories could have come back. I’m not the best mysticman out there, you know. But now I know that not even a Pokemon Master, much less the Pokemon League Champion, can resist my powers. Yet, there is also the fact that you know who I am. I am the red-haired kid that almost defeated you and took your place as Pokemon League Champion. With all of those other Masters beneath me, I could’ve taken the world. But with my newly discovered powers, that will happen regardless. No one knows that I am even alive, save for you and the rest of the Masters in the League. But soon, even they will not know. I will just be some red-haired kid without a cause. Ah, but I do have a cause. This I will not share with you yet. If I were you, I would watch my step. Watch who’re you’re talking to, who you’re walking with down a deserted hallway. Because you never know, I could be lurking nearby. See you soon, murderer.
From,
Mysticman John Flargini
“That wretched b******,” I cursed underneath my breath. “I cannot trust anybody anymore. I am working on this alone. Misty, head back to League Headquarters. I’ll be back when this is done and over with.”
“No,” she said. “I cannot and will not leave you now. You need help on this one, Bob. You know you do. Don’t even try to deny it. I will stick with you until the end.” That was it. I didn’t deny it, because I knew that she was right.
“Fine,” I said. “But we have to get to Johto as quick as possible. We’ll take the Magnet Train.” We continued on to Saffron City. When we entered the city, we noticed that people were more solemn than normal. I was wondering why but I had no time to think about it. I proceeded to the Magnet Train Station quickly before anybody could notice that I was even here. Even the guy that checked our tickets seemed glum. We got on the train and it started up. It was going pretty fast but it started to slow down five minutes in.
“Doesn’t this usually take about ten minutes,” Misty asked me.
“Yeah, it does,” I replied. “Something is definitely wrong here. Very wrong.” All of the people’s eyes in our cab changed. All of their pupils disappeared. They all had a look like they were in a daze. They all started moving towards Misty and me.
“What’s going on,” Misty asked with horror on her face.
“Flargini,” I spoke softly. “Let’s get out of here.” I broke the window behind and jumped out, dragging Misty along with my hand. There he was, standing on top of the train, his purple cloak with moons and stars billowing out behind him.
“Hey, Bob,” he said. “You may have survived that fall, but I’ve come to finish the job.” He jumped off.
“Misty, go in the cab and wait for me there,” I commanded her. “Knock out everybody in the cab and throw them out.” She followed my orders and went inside the cab. I saw numerous people flying out of it.
“Now then,” Flargini said, “let’s finish this.” He then pointed his hand at me and hundreds of icy sparks flew at me. Each one that hit me was colder than the last. I got out of the way, sparks still flying towards me. I called a storm to come, and help me with this.
“Is that all you got,” I asked him.
“No,” he replied softly. “Time to say goodbye, Bob.” He raised his hand once more.
“Goodbye, Flargini,” I said softly as I prepared to attack. “Thunderstorm!” Many bolts of lighting came down from the storm and paralyzed him. “Hailstorm!” Ice came from the sky and froze him solid. “Firestorm!” Fire came down from the clouds like the ice and thunder did and burned him.
“You’re a Dragon Master,” he said weakly. “You can’t use fire, ice, and electric attacks.”
“I can if they’re weather attacks,” I replied softly. “Time to finish this. Rain Dance!” It started to pour from the sky. “ELEMENTAL STORM!” Fire, Ice, and Electricity came down from the sky and struck Flargini. He cried out in pain for a moment, and then fainted. I was going to finish him, but he teleported away when I started a hyper beam. I went into the cab, where Misty was checking the dials. The engineer came back in, looking dazed. Misty took care of him and explained to him what happened. I had a different dilemma to deal with. The voltage needed to get the train to Johto was all the way down.
“Flargini must have drained all of the train’s juice to stop it,” I told Misty. “We’ll have to improvise.” I picked up the loud speaker. “Passengers of the Magnet train, please fasten your seatbelts as we are about to get to Goldenrod City within, oh, about 20 seconds. Enjoy your ride on the Magnet Train.” I put down the loud speaker.
“What are you going to do,” Misty asked me, not knowing what was coming next.
“Hold on to something, Misty,” I told her. She immediately came to me and grabbed on to my shoulders. “THUNDER!” Electricity came down and struck the track. We were only halfway through our journey, but the thunder got us there in about 10 seconds. All of the passengers got off quickly, most of them likely to be sick.
“Where are we going now,” Misty asked me.
“New Bark Town,” I replied, knowing what I was going to do.
“You have that look in your eyes,” she said. “You know that I don’t like that look. I know what that look means.”
“Good,” I said. “That means that were both on the same track.”
“Maybe,” she said. “What do you mean?”
“Just come with me to New Bark Town,” I convinced her. “Once we get out of town, we’ll fly the rest of the way.”
“No,” she said. “You hurt your wing in that fall. You’re not going to fly anywhere today. Flare will fly us there.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “Flare will fly us there. We still will have to get out of town first though.” We continued out of town. After we got out, I let Flare, my Charizard, out of his pokeball. We both hopped on him and we flew away to New Bark Town. When we got there, Professor Elm, Jr. met us there.
“Ah, Bob,” he said when we landed. “I have just made a startling discovery on my study of the Pineco and Forretress in their own environment. They Self-Destruct when they are fighting for mates.”
“That’s very nice, Professor,” I said, with an eyebrow raised. “But I am here for something more important. Have you heard about any threats to the League?”
“I have heard some rumors,” he admitted. “But what does that have to do with me?”
“You have all the files from all the trainers that ever received pokemon from you, right,” I asked.
“Why, certainly,” he responded. “But why?”
“I need to look up a John Flargini,” I said. “He received a totodile from you the year after I got Puff.”
“I don’t remember anybody by that name but just come in and have a look at my computer anyway,” he said, “You may search through anything.”
“Thanks, Professor,” I thanked him as I walked in. I headed directly for his computer. I turned it on and hacked in as Professor Elm. He didn’t know that I knew how to hack into computers. I was looking through all the F’s. Frauendorfer, Fauntoon, Farble, Flargini! There it was I opened the file. There was only one applicant. John Flargini. I opened his record. I read through his pokemon list. Feraligatr, Magneton, Crobat, Sneasel, Gengar, and Alakazam. This was the team that he had battled me with at Indigo Plateau a while back. It was tough to beat.
“Check his status,” Misty said. I did. Under status, it said that he was dead.
“Dead,” I asked, confused. “How can he be dead? I just saw him!”
“He’s alive,” Professor Elm exclaimed. “He was always a good trainer. He didn’t really care much for his pokemon in the beginning, but that changed as soon as his Feraligatr saved his life.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Except that he thinks that I’m a cold-blooded murderer and he wants me dead.”
“But what on earth can he do about it,” Professor Elm asked. “You’re the Pokemon League Champion and he’s just a trainer.”
“Actually,” I started, “he’s a mysticman. But we have to go. I’m gonna take this file, Professor Elm. Go into hiding unless you want to end up dead.” With that, I left him. I tucked the paper that I had printed out into my cloak and let out Flare.
“Misty, hop on,” I said. “We’re going back to the Palace of the Elite Four.” She hopped on too, and we flew off towards the Elite Four.
As we landed, there were no guards at the door. Something was suspicious. The plant to the left of the door started to move. It glowed, and was transforming. It was Duplica! The plant on the right side started to move, too. It transformed into Duplica’s Ditto!
“Why are you guys out here,” I asked them.
“The League put all the Pokemon Masters on guard duty,” she replied. “I’ve been out here like a plant for the last three hours. It starts to hurt the back after a while.”
“What about the others,” I asked.
“They’re a little bit farther down the hallway,” she said. “So you’d better tell them that you’re coming or they’ll jump out and kill you. Those were our orders. How goes the Mysticman Hunt?” She added in an undertone.
“Not good,” I said. “But we did find a file on him. Evidently he can erase memories, but he can’t go through the trouble to delete a file about him. According to this file, he’s dead.”
“No way,” she exclaimed. “This case is getting way too creepy.” She shivered. A note fell down from the sky. I unfolded it and read it. It said:
Dearest Bob,
I know what you are going through with John Flargini. You must know something about him. He is not what he seems. You alone cannot defeat him. He can use any elemental attack, so you must be careful about this. Any wrong move by you could end you up being dead. I have reason to believe that there is a double agent within the League. The double agent is high ranked within the League. They are most likely a Pokemon Master of one type or another. You cannot trust anybody. Yet, you must find all the allies that you can to defeat Flargini. He is very dangerous. I do not want you going after him alone. Yet, I don’t want you to go after him with any company. I am the only person that you can trust. You know that, don’t you? I will call for a meeting soon. I am sorry that I have been silent towards you for the last year, but I have had a mission that I have been on. See you soon.
Your Mother,
Lorelei, The Ice Master
“Lorelei’s your mother,” Duplica asked, her eyes wide. “She’s stalking you. She’s insane and cannot be trusted. You do know that, don’t you?”
“She can be trusted,” I said. “She’s saved my life twice. She’s also saved Bugsy’s life. She was the one that put up the ice wall in Goldenrod City. Remember? I know that she can be trusted.” I left Duplica at the gate to the Palace of the Elite Four and went in.
Duplica was right about one thing, everybody must have been hiding. Misty was back at the entrance, talking to Duplica. I wondered what she was saying, but I had more important things to think about. Such as John Flargini. I went inside my chambers, where Clair was sitting, waiting for me.
“Hey, Bob,” she said in a cheerful voice. This wasn’t like her. She was normally serious when there was a problem in the League.
“Clair,” I asked her cautiously. “What are you doing-” My mind exploded with pain. It was a pain so painful that it was suffocating me. I couldn’t breathe. I blacked out.
“What do you think happened to him?”
“I don’t know. I just walked in and this was where I found him.”
“I hope he’s all right.” It was Misty, Duplica, and Clair were standing above me. I sat up.
“What happened,” I asked immediately. I couldn’t remember a thing. I was just coming into my chambers…and that was it. That’s all I could remember.”
“Clair came in and you were lying there,” Misty said. “Do you remember anything?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I was walking in…and that’s it.” A face came into my mind. Flargini. He was standing at the shrine in the Ilex forest. “I have to go. Now.”
“Let me come with you,” Misty pleaded.
“No,” I denied her.
“I’m gonna come along anyway,” she persisted.
“Fine,” I said. I degenerated my cloak and called my wings. Misty held on to me and we flew off towards the Ilex Forest. I landed somewhere close to the shrine. I made it there, but Flargini wasn’t anywhere to be found. I looked inside the shrine, and there was a note in there. It read:
Bob,
I see that you took my bait. It was a very good plan you know. I also know what you are thinking and what your next move is. This makes me impossible to beat. I sent an image in your head of me standing at the G/S shrine, or so it is now called since you discovered its secret. I know that your mother, Lorelei, has contacted you. She also told you that there is a double agent in the League. I know who it is, as they are working for me. They know they are, just in case you were wondering. All I can promise about this little escapade of ours, it will be a bittersweet killer ending. O, I almost forgot. The end could be sooner than you think. O, say in about ten seconds. Stay tuned, murderer.
From,
Mysticman John Flargini
“What does he mean, The End,” I wondered out loud. That’s when I saw it. A bomb inside the G/S shrine. Four, three…I grabbed Misty and ran. Two, one…BOOM! A blast from behind us and in front of us knocked us both unconscious.
- End of Chapter Two -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Three

It must have been an hour later when I woke up, caked with mud. I looked for the shrine, but there was no shrine. All that was left of it was splintered wood all over the place. Misty was lying, unconscious, beside me. I shook her to wake her up, but it did no good.
“Misty,” I said. “Wake up.” I brushed her hair out of her face. I picked her up in my arms and ran towards Azalea Town. When I reached there, I received much attention. Everybody was crowding around Misty and me.
“Is there anything that we can do for you, Mr. Shepardson,” a elderly man asked.
“Yeah,” I replied. “You people can get out of my way before I have to force you.” They all backed away when I had said that. They must have thought that I was crazy. I was. I was crazy about Misty and wanted the best for her. I ran towards the Gym. I hoped that Bugsy was there. He was the only person in this town that I could trust.
“Bugsy,” I yelled when I entered the Gym. “Are you here? I need help. Misty’s hurt.” At this, Bugsy came flying towards us on a pair of bug wings.
“Get her to the PokeCenter,” Bugsy said, understanding the seriousness of the situation. “Nurse Joy will take good care of her.”
“O my goodness,” Nurse Joy exclaimed as we walked into the PokeCenter. “Set her on the gurney.” I set her down and I wheeled her to where Nurse Joy directed me. Bugsy and I were left outside of the x-ray room while Misty got x-rayed.
“Who did this,” Bugsy asked me.
“Flargini,” I responded. This wasn’t just against the League anymore. This was just against me. This time, it was personal.
“What are you going to do,” Bugsy asked me.
“I don’t know,” I replied. I knew what I was going to do. I was going to kill Flargini. As I had done Lance. It was a wonder how much killing was involved with being the Pokemon League Champion. Killing is the last thing that I had ever wanted to do, yet, it’s part of my job. I got up and started to go outside.
“Where are you going,” Bugsy asked me.
“Insane,” I replied with a smile. He smiled too. “But geographically, after Flargini.” I walked outside the door and a piece of paper fell down into my hands. It read:
Dearest Bob,
It is time that we meet. I will be on the Lake of Rage tonight at midnight. Come meet me there. I have some information that will be useful for you. I am the only one that you can trust. Meet me there, and I will explain many things to you. Come alone. Mysticmen have many powers, such as the ability to teleport away from danger if they are asleep or unconscious. Do watch yourself, Bob.

Your Mother,
Lorelei, The Ice Master
I folded up the piece of paper and stuck it inside my cloak. I was going to go to Mahogany Town and wait for my mother. I called my wings and took off, headed for Mahogany Town.
It was about 11:00 p.m. before I got there. I walked up to the Lake of Rage alone, because I did not want to attract any attention. I called my cloak and put the hood up, to disguise me. I looked around for someone, but I saw no one. Perhaps this was all a set up just to lure me here for Flargini to capture me. I looked out on to the lake. There was a boat out there. When she had said that she would be on the lake, she really meant it.
“Scarlet, Surf,” I whispered as I hopped on my red gyarados. Swiftly and silently, Scarlet surfed me out there to the boat. There was a woman wearing a light blue Masters cloak standing on it.
“Hello, son,” Lorelei said as she removed her hood.
“Hello, mother,” I replied. It felt strange, calling someone mother. “You wanted to tell me something?”
“Yes I did,” she said. “Do you remember the double agent inside the League?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But I have no idea who it is.”
“All that I know is that they are angry about Lance’s death,” Lorelei continued. “They are so angry about it, that they want you dead. It has to be someone inside the League, and very close to both you and Lance. They are a Master, too. Can you think of anyone like that?”
“That could be almost anybody,” I said. I was telling the truth. I didn’t want her to know too much about the League. She hadn’t been in my life very long. “Any of the Elite Four or the Gym Leaders.”
“I see,” she said. “This person is more likely to be related to Lance, or have been in a relationship with him.”
“Clair was his cousin,” I remembered, “and she was technically my cousin, too. She always came down from Blackthorn City. But it could be anybody. I am not gonna take any chances.”
“That’s understandable,” she agreed. “But there may be one person that can help you above anybody else.”
“Who’s that,” I wondered out loud.
“Delilah’s father,” Lorelei replied. “He is the guardian of all dragon pokemon. He is the reason that Clair and Lance are Dragon Masters.”
“But couldn’t he be a suspect,” I asked.
“No,” Lorelei answered. “He was happy that you killed Lance. He wasn’t too happy with his grandson after he found out what he had done to his only daughter. Grandson or not, he wanted Lance dead. He will help you, no matter what. He is your grandfather, too, you know. Well, kind of anyway.”
“I will meet with him,” I declared. “But first I have some questions for you. I only hope that you will answer them with the most complete truth ever.”
“I will,” she said.
“Who is my grandfather, from your side,” I asked.
“Alas,” she said, “the first thing that you ask me I cannot answer. I have my reasons. Please forgive me. You will find that out when it is time.”
“When will that be,” I asked. “I need to know.”
“I will tell you when you are ready,” she said. “It is time for you to go. Grandfather Largway will be in Dragon’s Den. There are many dragon trainers in there that are willing to battle anybody but a Master. So wear your cloak at all times. This will keep them away from battling you. Do you understand?”
“Grandfather Largway,” I asked, puzzled. “Delilah’s last name was Largway. That must mean that she never married.”
“That is correct,” Lorelei said. “But it is time for you to go. Goodbye, my son.” She then did a back flip off the boat and dived into the water. I sent out Scarlet and surfed to shore.
Once I got to shore, I immediately called my wings and flew towards Blackthorn City. I figured that I could make it there by morning if I flew through the night. I reached there about nine-o’clock that morning. I sent out Scarlet and we surfed behind Clair’s Gym to Dragon’s Den. I called my cloak as Lorelei had instructed me to. The only reason I did that was so trainers wouldn’t battle me, as I was a Master. I continued through Dragon’s Den, even as the dragon trainers inside looked at me as I passed.
“That’s the Pokemon League Champion,” one of them whispered.
“Yeah,” another said. “He’s the one that killed Lance.” I was getting sick of this.
“Quiet,” I ordered them. “If you don’t know the whole story, then keep your mouths shut. Or I will not allow you to use dragon pokemon. I do have that power, you know.” That shut them up. They quickly walked away before I could do anything. When I reached the shrine, Delilah’s father came out and greeted me.
“Ah, Bob,” he said. “What brings the Master of Dragons, the Pokemon League Champion here, to our humble place of dragon training?”
“Grandfather,” I said, “you don’t have to do this. Technically, you rank higher than me.” I had always called him grandfather because he was the closest thing that I had ever had to one.
“Fine,” he conceded. “But what brings you here, my grandson?” He had always called me grandson just as I called him grandfather.
“I have a problem,” I started. “My mother-”
“Lorelei,” he exclaimed in bewilderment. “She contacted you?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No,” he said, though he looked troubled. “That’s wonderful, but I had always hoped that you would still think of Delilah as your mother.”
“I do, Grandfather,” I said. “Lorelei has been keeping touch with me since I took over the League. How did you know that Lorelei was my mother?”
“I kept a copy of your files when you were adopted,” he said. “It was policy, as I was your appointed guardian if something happened to Delilah. But I don’t have to worry about that, as you’re living in the Palace of the Elite Four. But when your position gets taken-”
“I won’t lose,” I said. “Anyway, Lorelei told me to come to you. She said that you knew the one way to defeat a mysticman.”
“A mysticman,” he asked. “What’s his name?”
“John Flargini,” I replied. “He’s that red-haired kid that battled me. Do you remember him?”
“Yes,” he said. “And I also know how to defeat a mysticman. Let me tell you a story. There was once a medallion. It had the powers to defeat any mysticman. But a group of mysticmen gathered together to destroy the medallion. They couldn’t really destroy it, but they could break it into 18 pieces; no more, no less. Now, each of these pieces represents an element. This group of mysticmen hid the pieces. No one has found them to this day. That was over a hundred years ago. Find the 18 pieces, boy, and put them together. That will be the key to defeating Flargini. One of the pecies is hidden right here in Dragon’s Den. It is the dragon shard. It is not very big, about the size of a coin. It is down, underneath the waters. It is so far down, that that is the reason that nobody has found it. But you must go get it, my grandson. Good luck.” Then he went back inside the shrine.
I dived into the water off the shore. Grandfather was right; it was deep. I kept on swimming downwards. But I would never make it in one breath. Luckily, I knew of some air pockets from my many swims as a child. I quickly found one. I surfaced into the air pocket and let out Puff from his teal pokeball in a flash of teal light. I would have let out Scarlet, but there were many dragon pokemon down here that only Puff could protect me from, as he was my strongest. We dived down once more, and I grabbed on to his tail. He speedily got us down to the bottom. I motioned to him and told him that we were going this way. There was a wild Dragonair to my left. I raised my hand and my eyes turned teal. It understood and went away. I came to a steel door, and there were some codes in it looked like Unown writing. It read:

There is a puzzle that you must solve,
To enter these chambers within.
If you are wrong, you die.
But if you are right, you win.

That pretty much freaked me out. I turned to the puzzle underneath the Unown writing. It was more of a brainteaser than anything. The question was:


What is the one thing that dragons fear most?
Seems pretty simple doesn’t it?
But yet it is not as many have perished.
For the right answer, it was not thought of it.

I looked at Puff and he shrugged his shoulders. There were three answers under it. They were:

Me
Myself
Or I

That confused me to no end. Thoughts were burning in my head. I’m not scared of Me, but I am scared of Myself, because I am not sure what I am capable of. But the third choice is not what it seems. I, what does that stand for? I thoughts of all the elements that begun with i. Ice! That was it! It meant ice! At least, I hoped. I pushed the third choice. The ground started to shake from my feet. Either it was working, or we would be dead soon. A crack appeared in the middle of the solid door. It then slid back into the walls, allowing us to enter. There was a mist in where the door once was. I saw the dragon piece of the medallion sitting on a podium in the middle of a well-lit room. There was only one thing to do. I ran right through the door, Puff following me. There was no water in the room. The mist must have been holding back the water somehow. I didn’t have time to find out. I caught my breath, grabbed the piece of the medallion and stuffed it in my cloak. I ran outside of the room, where Mysticman John Flargini was standing there, in a bubble that didn’t allow water to get through, waiting for me.
“Ah, Bob,” Flargini said. “So you have decided to put the medallion together to defeat me.” He then sent icy sparks that froze a cage around me. “See you later, Bob. Well, then again, I’ll never see you again.” He laughed and went towards the surface, leaving me down in the waters of the deep, in a cage that I couldn’t get out of, my six teal pokeballs lying just inches out of my reach. I was trapped and running out of air…
- End of Chapter Three -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Four

I had to find a way to get out of this place. I knew that I didn’t have much time left. I had about three minutes left of air at the most. I couldn’t reach my six teal pokeballs that contained my dragons. Two minutes. I tried using every dragon attack possible on the ice bars but I didn’t even scratch them. One minute. I was doomed. There was no way that I could get out. Fifty seconds. Someone was swimming towards me. Forty seconds. I couldn’t see who it was. Thirty seconds. It was Misty! Twenty seconds. She reached the bars. Ten seconds. She motioned for me to use a dragonbreath. I complied and she used a whirlpool on them. Five seconds. The bars shattered. I had to get to an air pocket. Four seconds. I swam as quickly as possible to the nearest air pocket. Three seconds. I couldn’t find any. Two seconds. There, five feet to my left! One second. I reached it just as I ran out of air. I was gasping for breath, totally winded from my swim.
“How did you get down there,” Misty asked. “You know, in that cage of ice.”
“Flargini,” I replied. “He trapped me in there.” I realized that I had left my pokemon down on the floor. I ducked back under the surface of the water. I swam towards my dragon pokemon. However, Misty beat me to them and handed me my teal pokeballs. We swam up to the surface quickly.
“What were you doing down there anyway,” Misty asked suspiciously.
“This,” I replied, holding out the dragon piece to the medallion. “This is the key to defeating any Mysticmen.”
“It’s only a teal…uh…thing,” she said. “How is that the key?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But there are seventeen more scattered throughout Kanto and Johto. We have to collect them and put them together. Combined, that will be the key to defeating Flargini.”
“Who on earth told you this,” she asked.
“The Guardian of the Dragons,” I replied, “my grandfather.”
“Who told you to go to him,” Misty asked.
“My mother, Lorelei,” I responded.
“And you trust her,” Misty queried me.
“Do I have a choice,” I asked. “If I don’t, then I’m lost and there is no way in h*** that we can stop Flargini from doing what he wants to do. That’s taking over the League.”
“Where are the other pieces,” Misty asked with a sigh.
“That’s the problem,” I said. “This is the only one that my grandfather knows of. The other ones are out there, I just don’t know where.”
“Well,” Misty started, “Blackthorn City is a town of dragons, right?”
“Yeah,” I came back with. “But where is this-”
“And the dragon shard just happened to be here, right,” she cut me off. I figured out where this was going.
“So you’re saying that the other shards of the medallion are located in a town where that town is a specific elemental Gym Leader or Master,” I asked. “Honestly, I’m intrigued.”
“You should be,” she said with a devilish smile. “But not now, we have to find the rest of those shards. Perhaps something can happen later.”
“Good idea,” I told her and kissed her on the lips. “I was talking about the shards being in the respective cities. Let’s go.” She was kind of stunned at what I had just done, so she didn’t follow me for about three or four seconds. We go to the entrance of Dragon’s Den and I immediately flew off towards Blackthorn City. I was going to check the Gym for Clair, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.
“Where are we going now,” Misty asked me.
“Let’s go find the Ice Shard,” I replied. “The town of ice is Mahogany Town.”
“But there’s no places for ice except the Gym,” Misty said.
“The Ice Path,” I said. “We have to go to the Ice Path. That’s where we’ll find the Ice Shard.” We ran off towards the Ice Path.
When we entered the Ice Path, there was an abundance of ice pokemon in there. They all ran away from us when we came. It was kind of dark in there, so I sent out Flare, who appeared in a flash of teal light from its teal pokeball. That lit up the cave so it was very bright.
“We are never going to find the Ice Shard in here,” Misty complained a half-hour after we entered.
“It’s here,” I reassured her. “I can feel it. Masters can always feel it when their weakness is close.”
“Maybe it’s Pryce or Lorelei,” Misty suggested.
“Just hope that it’s the shard,” I asked her. “We need to find it. Quickly. We don’t know how long it will take for Flargini to figure out that I’m alive.”
“Good point,” Misty said. “Hey, what’s that over there?” It was some very shiny ice. Yet, it was too bright for ice. That had to be the door!
“Misty, Flare, come on,” I said, as Misty and Flare followed me to what I hoped was the door.
“It’s the door,” Misty exclaimed. “But it’s frozen behind a wall of ice.”
“Flare,” I commanded. “Use your flamethrower.” Flare obeyed, but the wall did not even melt a little bit.
“Maybe he doesn’t have enough power,” Misty suggested, resulting in a dirty look from Flare. “Or maybe it’s just really thick ice.” She said that last bit to cover up.
“We need more power,” I said. “Scarlet, Aeroy, Dragonight, Dragon, Puff, I need all of you!” In five flashes of teal light, my other five dragon pokemon emerged from their teal pokeballs.
“I think I’ll just back up,” Misty said, edging backwards.
“Scarlet, Dragon, Dragonight, Flare, Puff,” I ordered. “Use your Flamethrower! Aeroy, use your Fire Blast!” They all complied and relentlessly attacked the wall of complete and solid ice. It took about ten minutes, but they melted through the ice. I returned everybody but Flare. There was another question on the wall:

Behind this door lies the Ice Shard,
Which you are hoping to find.
The enigma is confusing,
But not if you have a great mind.

I looked under the clue. There was a picture. The picture was of the medallion with all the pieces put together. I decided that I should punch in the shards that I already have. So I pressed the Dragon Shard. Nothing happened. I then stuck the Dragon Shard in the slot that I had pressed. It glowed a bright teal, and the door opened. I could not explain what had happened and I didn’t really want to know. The Ice Shard was on a podium, as the dragon shard had been. Except that there were two guards made of complete ice standing on either side of the podium. They each had a sword in their hand. I went up and grabbed the shard. I then backed away quickly, stuffing the shard in my cloak. The guards remained still and unmoving.
“Whew,” I said as I back around to the door. The door closed before we could get out.
“Why do I have the feeling that this is not good,” Misty asked. The ice guards moved. They each grabbed the hilt of their sword and came at either one of us. I degenerated my teal cloak and called my teal katana. Misty took off her cloak and called her twin blue sai knives from the moisture in the air. I charged at the ice guard moving toward me and engaged in combat. I was performing every kind of kick, punch, and slash that I could. He blocked all of them. I sent a false punch with my left fist, then dodged and slashed him to pieces with my katana in my right. He fell to the ground, not moving. Misty had also defeated her ice guard.
“Why isn’t the door opening,” I asked Misty. “We defeated the guards.” Slowly, the ice guards resurrected themselves and became whole again.
“That’s probably the reason,” Misty answered, as the guards were moving ever so closer to us.
“We can’t keep on killing them forever,” I said. “Misty, maybe we have to use the Ice Shard to open the door. I’ll fend the guards off.” I threw her the Ice Shard and she hurried over to the door. They both concentrated on me and I was slashing and blocking, mostly blocking. I heard a sound behind me.
“The door opened,” Misty yelled at me. I quickly decapitated the two guards and ran out the door of the shrine. I put my hand on the door and it closed. I pulled the Dragon Shard from the door and a blanket of ice covered it once more.
“How did you get the door open,” I asked Misty.
“I was messing around with the shard, and an ice beam shot out of it and hit the door,” she explained as we ran towards the exit.
“Let’s put them together,” I told Misty. She handed me the Ice Shard and I pulled the Dragon Shard out of my cloak. The Ice Shard flew out of one of my hands and connected with the Dragon Shard in the other. It was like a magnet, and I couldn’t get them apart.
“Only sixteen more shards to collect and put together,” Misty said. “Where’s the next on that we’re going to get?”
“Well,” I said, “we can only get shards that fit with the other shards. According to the picture of the Medallion, the shards that fit with the dragon and the ice shards, we have seven choices.”
“Where’s the closest one,” Misty asked me.
“I’d have to say the Bug Shard,” I said.
“I hate bugs,” Misty said.
“Yeah,” I said, “but we have to collect all the shards. Not just the ones that we like.”
“Fine,” she said. “But where are we going after that?”
“Most likely to Cianwood City,” I replied, “to get the Fighting Shard. But we have to take this one step at a time. First we’ll get the Bug, then we’ll go and get the Fighting.”
“Where do you think that the Bug Shard will be,” Misty asked me. “I mean, there’s really no town that complies with bug pokemon.”
“Azalea Town,” I replied.
“But they have lots of Slowpokes, not bugs,” Misty said. “Even though they have a Bug Master in their town, that doesn’t mean that the Bug Shard will be there.”
“There’s only one type of pokemon found in the Ilex Forest, right,” I asked.
“Yeah,” Misty said, not knowing where this is going.
“That’s bug pokemon,” I explained. “The Bug Shard is in the Ilex Forest.”
“How do you know,” Misty asked. “And don’t say that you have a feeling.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I have a sense.”
“What,” Misty exclaimed. “That’s the same-”
“We have to go,” I cut her off. “Come here.” She came and I picked her up. I called my wings, and we were off to the Ilex Forest.
We landed at the place with the G/S shrine used to be. There was a new shrine that was built in its place, and the G/S ball was placed inside. The Bug Shard had to be around here somewhere. The G/S ball looked different. The button on the front was shiny. It was made of crystal! The letters on the front of the ball had changed, too. It now read G/S/C!
“Misty,” I said to her, “we were wrong about the G/S/C ball all along. It’s not something from a legendary pokemon. It’s the key to finding the Bug Shard!”
“How do you know,” Misty asked.
“I just do,” I replied. I pressed the button on the G/S/C ball and the shrine moved to the left, leaving a staircase that went down about twenty feet. Misty was just standing there, in her blue cloak, with her mouth wide open. I went down there and there was a door, a door like all the others had been. There was again a puzzle in Unown writing. It read:

So you have come to find the Bug Shard,
This you may not get.
Who put the Bug Shard here?
That’s the question; do not fret.

“That’s the question,” I said unbelievingly. “Who put the Bug Shard here? I dunno. Lemme check the choices.”

The Creator
The Current Bug Master
Celebi

I understood the first two, but I wasn’t sure of the last one. What’s a Celebi? I decided to ask Misty.
“What the h*** is a Celebi,” I asked Misty.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe it’s a pokemon. Check your pokedex.” I figured that that was a good idea and I pulled out my teal encyclopedia or pokemon. I opened it up and pointed it towards the name Celebi.
“Celebi,” my pokedex said in a computerized voice. “The Time Travel Pokemon. It is said that it travels trough time and leaves an egg from the future.”
“I’m guessing that it’s a legendary pokemon,” I said. “Wonder what type it is.”
“Celebi,” my pokedex continued. “A Grass/Psychic pokemon.”
“Not a Bug Type, eh,” I said. I was about to press “The Creator” but my pokedex continued.
“Celebi is said to be the guardian of the Ilex Forest in Johto,” it said. “Legends say that Celebi built the Ilex Forest Shrine, which was recently destroyed in an explosion.”
“Celebi’s the answer,” I exclaimed. “It put the Bug Shard here because it didn’t want it stolen by any Mysticmen!”
“Which unfortunately will happen,” a voice behind us said. We turned around and there was Flargini, floating in midair behind us…
- End of Chapter Four -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Five

“Give me the shards,” Flargini ordered me. “They do not belong to you and they need to be destroyed.”
“If you want them,” I challenged him. “You’ll have to come and get them.” I punched in the third answer, Celebi. The door opened and I ran inside and closed the door. The Bug Shard was lying on a podium, as the others had been.
“Let’s see him get through that,” Misty said. Flargini walked right through the door. “S***! He did.”
“I’m not kidding around anymore, Bob,” Flargini said as he approached me. “Give me the shards and I will let you and your whore go.” My eyes turned teal, then bright silver. I couldn’t control myself. I sent a Dragon Rage at him so hard that it knocked him out.
“Bob,” Misty said tentatively as my eyes changed back to normal. “What just happened?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But we have to get out of here before this psychopath wakes up.” She conceded and we ran out of the Bug Shrine, with three Elemental Shards placed together.
“Where are we going next,” Misty asked me.
“Cianwood City,” I answered her, “to get the Fighting Shard. Come on, we’ll fly there.”
“Okay,” she said as she grabbed on to me. “Before we go, Bob, I want to know what the h*** happened back in the shrine. How did your eyes turn silver? What does that mean?”
“I think,” I started, “I think that it means that I cannot control myself.”
“You know that that kind of scares me,” Misty said.
“Scares me too,” I admitted. “But we have to collect the shards. That is our first priority.”
“Yes it is,” Misty said. “You’re right. We have to defeat Flargini.” She jumped in my arms and we flew off to Cianwood City.
When we go there, Chuck, one of the two Fighting Masters, was waiting there for us.
“Bob,” Chuck said when we landed. “How nice it is to see you here in Cianwood City.”
“We’re on League business, Chuck,” I said. “We don’t have any time. Please show me to your Gym.”
“Uh,” Chuck stuttered. “This isn’t an inspection of Gyms, is it?”
“No,” I replied. “But that should be coming up soon, anyway. We must check your Gym for…uh…something.”
“I see,” Chuck said, relieved. “Come with me. What is it that you are looking for? This Gym has been here for centuries, and it has been in my family for centuries. Each son or daughter that possesses the Mastery of Fighting will possess the Gym.” Misty and I exchanged raised eyebrows.
Once we got in, I immediately spotted a huge rock. I wondered what it was for. I decided to ask Chuck.
“Chuck,” I started, “what is that boulder over there for?”
“That boulder has been there since this Gym has been here,” Chuck said. “It is our symbol. Legends say that the one that moves it will receive a reward. Neither Master Bruno nor myself could move it. We even tried together. If you wish to try, you may.”
“Gladly,” I said. I pulled out the three pieces of the medallion that are together. These shards possessed the powers that the Masters themselves did. I held out the shards at the boulder and a Hyper Beam came out of the Dragon Shard, a Blizzard came out of the Ice Shard, and a Hidden Power: Bug came out of the Bug Shard. This did more than just move the boulder; it shattered it! There was a stairway underneath of it. I went down there. There was a door like there had been all the other shrines. The puzzle on the door read:

This puzzle still requires brains, not muscle,
If that’s what you were hoping.
Press the button and you’ll enter,
To see if you are coping.

There was just one button under the puzzle on the door to the shrine. I pressed it. The door opened and Misty, Chuck, and I were astonished at what we saw. Hundreds upon hundreds of podiums, each with a Fighting Shard perched upon them.
“Hey,” Misty called, “there’s more to the clue over there!” we all ran over to the other side of the wall. The instructions told us that we had to pick the right Fighting Shard. If we picked the wrong one, we would perish. All of the Shards looked different. I wondered how this was even possible.
“We are never going to find the right one,” Misty complained. “This is impossible!”
“No it’s not,” I said. “There’s more than one way to find a Shard.” I took out the Dragon, Ice, and Bug Shards that were together and threw them in the middle of all the shards. All of the podiums started to vibrate. Some even exploded! They all started exploding. After all the dust had cleared, there was only one podium remaining. This must be the Fighting Shard! I picked up the completed part of the medallion and ran over to the standing podium. I picked up the Fighting Shard and held it up to the other Shards. It rocketed over to its correct place in line with the other Shards.
“Whew,” Misty said. “Only fourteen more Shards to go.”
“I don’t know what just happened,” Chuck said, “and I don’t want to know. Take that shard and leave.”
“Gladly,” I said as I stuffed the medallion inside my cloak. As we exited the Gym, Misty spoke up after what had happened.
“Where’s the next closest Shard,” Misty asked me.
“It’s most likely the Flying Shard in Violet City,” I answered her. I generated my wings. “Let’s go.” She came over to me and we flew off to Violet City. As we were flying, Falkner came up to us.
“Hey, Bob,” Falkner said. “How’s the shard-collecting?”
“Good,” I replied.
“Where are you headed to next,” he asked me.
“Violet City,” I responded. “We think that that’s the location of the Flying Shard.”
“Really,” Falkner asked. “ I thought that you knew the locations of the shards.”
“No,” I replied. “We’re just guessing.”
“I see,” Falkner said. “Do you have any idea where the exact location is?”
“No,” I responded. “We don’t know where it is. Hey, what’s that?” There was something off in the distance. It was someone in a deep purple cloak on a glider. Flargini. He was coming straight at us. He shot rockets at us, but Falkner and I performed some aerial maneuvers and dodged them. One of them exploded behind me, throwing me forward. I dropped Misty. She was falling a hundred feet towards the ground. I did a nosedive and recalled my wings so I would freefall faster. I finally caught up to her and grabbed her. I called my wings and pulled out of the dive inches from the ground. I felt my stomach graze the ground as I went back up. Falkner and Flargini were fighting up there by something shiny. It looked like…but no, it couldn’t be…all the way up there…it was the door to the Flying Shard! Flargini’s rocket must have revealed it somehow. I didn’t have time to find out. Flargini was sending electric sparks at Falkner. I had to help him. About ten feet before a reached Flargini, I threw Misty to Falkner so I would have my hands free. I then Hyper Beamed Flargini to knock him off his glider and force him to fall to the ground.
“What the h*** do you think that you just did,” Misty started to curse me out. “You could’ve-”
“Be quiet,” I cut her off. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing in the world to say, but it needed to be said. “We have to open the door and get the Flying Shard.” She nodded and I flew up to the door. There was a riddle on it like the others:

To get past this challenge,
You will have to use your wits.
If you decide not to,
You’ll end up in the pits.

There was a button below the clue. I pressed it and the door opened. Inside were thousands upon thousands of flying pokemon. Pidgeots, Dragonites, Gligars, Heracrosses, Scythers, Aerodcatyls, and many others all flying around in there. There was another clue on the wall. It read:
One of these pokemon has the Flying Shard places around their neck.
You must find and catch the pokemon with it.
Otherwise, the Shard will not come off.

“Want another flying pokemon,” I asked Falkner. “Because that could be arranged. Give me one of your gray pokeballs.” He tossed one to me, and we were off, chasing through all of the flying pokemon. I looked back towards the door, and Flargini had just come in on his glider. He pulled out a pokeball with stars and moons on it. He then went off, looking for the pokemon that had the Shard around its neck. I was looking, too, but with no luck. Misty was off riding her Mantine, because it could fly. We wouldn’t dare fall, because when the clue said pits, it meant pits. There were lots of spikes down there that would impale us if we fell. I saw an Aerodatcyl off in the distance with something white hanging around its neck. It had to be the Flying Shard. I went over there and confronted it. It looked at me and flew away. I guess that it didn’t even respect me because I had a Mastery over it. It flew away and since it was the fastest flying pokemon, I couldn’t keep up with it.
“Aeroy,” I said as I let out my Aerodactyl in a flash of teal light from its teal pokeball. “Chase that Aerodactyl down and damage it a little bit. Misty, Falkner, I found it! It’s that Aerodactyl over there.” They followed in pursuit, but they couldn’t reach it. Aeroy, however, was neck and neck with it, trying to bite it and wing attack it. It finally got one off and sent the Aerodactyl spiraling down towards the spikes. I couldn’t let it die, so I zoomed down after it and threw a pokeball at it. It was caught, and the pokeball flew over to Falkner, and he threw me the Flying Shard. I caught it and sent a gust at Flargini. I grabbed Misty off her Mantine and flew out the door, Misty recalling her Mantine.
We flew all the way the Cherrygrove City before we knew for sure that Flargini wasn’t following us anymore. We landed and walked into the PokeCenter. There was a woman sitting in a booth by herself. She was wearing a light blue jacket with her hood up. She also had a light blue skirt on. I knew who it was, yet I wasn’t sure. I walked over to the booth where she was sitting in and sat down opposite her.
“Did you have a talk with your grandfather,” Lorelei asked me as I sat down, Misty following me.
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I did.”
“And what were his instructions on defeating the Mysticman,” she continued her question.
“This,” I simply said as I tossed the medallion onto the table. “He said that I must collect all eighteen Elemental Shards and place them together. I have five: Dragon, Ice, Bug, Fighting, and Flying. We don’t know the locations of the others yet.”
“The Elemental Medallion,” Lorelei gasped. “This was just a legend. There’s no way that this could be the-”
“Grandfather said that once all the Shards were placed together,” I said, “that the medallion would be the key to defeating any Mysticmen.”
“How do you know about the Medallion,” Misty spoke up. “This is League business only. No Pokemon Masters outside the League are supposed to know about it.”
“Let me tell you,” Lorelei explained, “Five years ago, about the time the Bob started to train Puff, Lance, the Pokemon League Champion, decided that he was going to find and search for the Elemental Medallion for his own purposes. So he sent out a team with a map of all of the locations of the shards to go and retrieve one of the Shards. I think that it was the Dark Shard. Anyway, they went out into Dark Cave somewhere by Blackthorn City and they never returned. Lance killed the project and took away all of the Elite Four’s copy at the time. He took Bruno’s, Agatha’s, Karen’s, and mine. Except I copied mine onto another disk. I am giving this disk to you. There is a hack that you must pass. Not even Porygon can get past it. That’s why they made Porygon2. The reason that this pokemon was made was to hack into League files. This disk has the map of all the supposed locations of the Shards. But, you will need a Porygon2 to hack into them. Lance had a voiceprint and a ID code that he alone knew. But, a Porygon2 can hack and get these codes that you need, so you must get one at all costs. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Misty and I said simultaneously.
“Good,” Lorelei said. “It is up to you to defeat Flargini. Otherwise, there will be a war like none other, and Flargini will win every battle.”
“Assuming he survives,” I replied.
“Mysticmen have the power to recover,” Lorelei explained, getting up. “That medallion is the key to defeating him. Guard it with your life.” With that, she walked out of the PokeCenter.
“We must go and retrieve the Dark Shard,” I said. “Now.”
“But we need a map,” Misty said. “Otherwise we’ll end up with the troop that Lance sent out.”
“Fine,” I replied. I walked up to Nurse Joy. “Would you happen to have a Porygon2 handy?”
“Not at the moment,” she said. “But there’s one in Celadon City.”
“Great,” I said.
“Hey, you’re the Pokemon League Champion,” a kid with a pokeball in his hand said beside me.
“Yeah,” I replied. “That’s me.”
“And you need to use a Porygon2,” he asked questioningly. “You can borrow mine if you would like.” He opened his pokeball and a Porygon2 came out of it. “What do you need him for?”
“I need to hack into a file on a disk,” I replied. “Can your Porygon2 do that for me?”
“Yeah, sure,” the kid replied. “Come with me over to that PC over there.” he walked over to a PC. His Porygon2 went behind the PC to the cords and we heard a zapping noise.
“What was that,” Misty asked, startled.
“Oh, that,” the kid explained nonchalantly. “Porygon2 just entered the hard drive.” Soon we saw the virtual pokemon on the screen. I popped in the disk that Lorelei had given me. The Porygon2 went into the file itself and came out moments later, as the file opened. There was no map, there was just a picture of a teal-cloaked figure in my chambers. The figure was holding a lance. He walked up closer so we could see his face clearly.
“Hey, Bob,” Lance said. “I knew that your mother, Lorelei, would give you this disk to put the medallion together to defeat a Mysticman. But, that won’t happen. I knew that she was your mother, so I gave her a fake disk. I’m not even sure how you opened this file. But, then again, you must’ve used a Porygon2 or something like that. Anyway, the reason that you won’t collect the Shards is because this PC will explode…right about now.” BOOM! The PC blew up and the PokeCenter in Cherrygrove City was reduced to ruins. Everyone was trapped in there, not able to get out…
- End of Chapter Five -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Six

I exploded a hole in the ceiling, creating a place for everybody to get out. I grabbed the kid and his Porygon2, Misty following me. There were several ambulances waiting to pick up the survivors of the explosion. Nurse Joy and all of the others had evacuated and were being transported to Violet City. The kid with his Porygon2 was all right once he was awoken. As for Misty and I, we had minor injuries, mainly because we tried to deflect the blast from hitting anybody else.
“We have to get out of here,” I told Misty. “Lance will not win. I will not let him.”
“Lance can’t win,” Misty exasperatedly explained to me. “He’s dead. There is no way in h*** that he can win.”
“I think that he can,” I replied. “Something just doesn’t add up. I don’t know enough about this John Flargini guy yet. Why now? Why not a year ago?”
“We’ll just have to find that out later,” Misty said. “We will collect those Shards and we will defeat Flargini. I promise.”
“Let’s go,” I said. I didn’t want to agree with her, because that would mean that I was wrong. “Lance is behind this. I know he is. I just can’t prove it yet. We’re going to get the Dark Shard.” I generated my wings and Misty grabbed a hold of me. I took off, as it was getting dark. We had to get there before Flargini did.
We landed at the entrance to Dark Cave about an hour before sunset. We entered the cave, but it was dark in there.
“How are we going to light this up,” I asked Misty.
“Let me cover that,” Misty told me. “Togetic, go. Use your Flash.” Her evolved flying form of Togepi came out of her blue pokeball in a flash of blue light. Her pokemon complied and the entire cave lit up for us to continue on.
We were walking for about a half an hour when Togetic’s Flash fell out. It got dark in there faster than the speed of light.
“Misty,” I whispered through the darkness. “Where are you? I can’t see a thing.” There was no answer. I wondered if Togetic was still in there with me. “Togetic, use Flash.” I saw a faint glow about three feet from my face. It turned out that somebody had dropped a blanket that was darker than the shadows itself over Togetic. The “shadow” blanket smothered Togetic’s Flash. I wondered how it got there when I realized that Misty was gone. I ran ahead, Togetic following me. I stopped suddenly, as I saw Flargini ahead, talking to a figure in a blue Master’s cloak. It looked like…but no…it couldn’t be…
“Misty,” I wondered out loud. Both cloaked figures looked at me. The one in the blue cloak looked like Misty, but why would she be talking to Flargini? I wouldn’t know just then, as she ran away as Flargini came to confront me.
“Ah, murderer,” Flargini said as strode towards me in his dark purple cloak with stars and moons on it. “You have come to collect the Dark Shard. That will not happen, as the door will not appear before sunset. And you will be dead by then.” He came at me with a katana created from…uh…nothing, really. It just formed in his hands. I generated my own weapon of choice and counterattacked him. It had to be about ten minutes to sunset, so if I could keep him busy for that long, I could get the Shard, find Misty, and get the h*** out of here.
I did a flip in the air, and landed behind Flargini. I sliced right through his neck, decapitating him, his limp body falling over, dead…or not. There was a bright flash of light and Flargini was standing there once more, with his katana, all body parts intact, ready to continue our duel. There was an unholy light that appeared behind us, as the door shifted into its visible form. I was still slashing and parrying with Flargini, when he just tumbled over, unconscious. Misty appeared behind him, holding a big rock which she had knocked him out with.
“Good timing,” I said as Flargini’s body teleported away back to who knows where. I decided not to talk to her about me seeing a blue-cloaked figure talking with Flargini. “We have to open this door so we can get the Dark Shard.” I went up to the door, and as usual, there was a riddle:

This test is much harder than all the others combined,
As you may not survive it.
It is more of a maze than anything,
Be careful that you don’t get bit.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Misty said. “Whatever lies behind that door, it can’t be good.”
“Most likely,” I agreed. “But we have to retrieve the Dark Shard.”
“What does it mean, get bit,” Misty asked, ignoring my last statement.
“I’m guessing that there is most likely Zubats and Golbats in there,” I replied coolly.
“Oh, great,” Misty replied sarcastically. “Now we have to die, just to get a stupid little rock.”
“We don’t have time for this,” I said. “If you’re coming, then come. If not, stay out here and complain to that stalactite over there.” I pushed the button under the clue and walked into what seemed like a black abyss.
“Fine,” Misty said. “I’m coming with you. The only reason I’m coming is because the stalactite won’t talk to me.” She then let out Togetic and made it use its Flash ability.
“That’s not helping much, is it,” I asked Misty. “They really went all-out to hide these Shards, didn’t they?”
We walked in there for about a half an hour, when we came to a huge hole. It had to be about twenty feet in diameter.
“What are we going to do now,” Misty asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.” The Dark Shard was in the blackness; I just knew it. I had to take a chance. I jumped into the black void as Misty screamed. Amazingly, I didn’t fall. I was just standing there, like I was standing a black carpet. I continued to walk farther away from Misty. I ran into something. It had to be the podium. I put my hand on the top and felt around. I found something that seemed to be the same shape of the Dark Shard. I grabbed it and started to back away. The ground below me seemed to wriggle beneath my feet. I started to run back towards Misty, when it just disappeared all together. I tried to call my wings, but the wouldn’t come. I was just falling towards the black abyss.
“Bob, wake up. Wake up, d*****.” I heard a voice above me. It was Ash.
“Ash,” I asked, “what are you doing here?”
“Misty called and said that you were trapped in the Dark Shrine,” Ash explained. “So I came in here, as I am a Dark Master, and came down here to get you. But…” He trailed off.
“But what,” I asked him. Something wasn’t right.
“We can’t get out of here,” Ash hurriedly said. “We’ll have to look for a different way out than the way that we came.”
“Perhaps the Dark Shard can help us,” I suggested. “I mean, if the Shards amplify the powers of a Master, you take it.” I handed him the black piece of the Medallion.
“Um…ok,” Ash said as he took the shard from me. “Let’s try this.” He held out the Dark Shard to the wall and a black beam, darker than night shot out of it and hit the wall. A hole appeared and it opened to the outside.
“That worked,” I said. “Give me the Shard back.” He handed me the Shard and I held it to the reconstructed part of the medallion. It locked together with it and wouldn’t come back off.
“We have to go,” I told Ash. “Where did you say Misty was?”
“Actually,” Ash said, “I didn’t. But she’s in a safe house in New Bark Town. She said to send you over there as soon as possible.”
“Ok,” I said. “I’m going.” To walked out of the exit that the Dark Shard had created and pulled out the PokeGear that I had received when I had started my training. It said that I was on Route 29. It was only a short distance to New Bark Town. I decided to walk so I would not create a disturbance. Ash went off to the Palace of the Elite Four to tell Karen, Bruno, Koga, and Will of the status of the medallion.
As I walked into New Bark Town, I realized that I didn’t know where the safe house was. I decided to ask Mrs. Elm, Professor Elm Jr.’s wife.
“Mrs. Elm,” I asked as I walked into their house. “Hello, I need to ask you something.” She came out as she heard my voice.
“Bob,” Mrs. Elm said in surprise. “What are you doing here?” I pulled out the medallion.
“Ash said that Misty was in a safe house in New Bark Town,” I explained. “The problem is, I don’t know where the safe house is.”
“I see,” Mrs. Elm said. “Let’s come have a look see at the Town Map on the wall over here.” I wondered what good that possibly could do, but she pressed a combination of cities, routes, and landmarks. I remembered the combination. It was Union Cave, Olivine City, Route 46, Lake of Rage, Blackthorn City, Route 36, and Mt. Silver. A hatch then opened under the map and there was a button. Mrs. Elm pushed it and walked downstairs. I followed her and it seemed that one of her basement walls had swung forward to reveal a small living space. Inside was Misty.
“Bob,” Misty exclaimed as she ran out and hugged me. “I was so worried. I didn’t know what happened. Oh, I’m so glad that you’re-”
“I’m fine,” I cut her off. “Also, I retrieved the Dark Shard. We only have twelve more Shards to find and collect. We’re a third done with this.” I then kissed her on the lips. Mrs. Elm must have been feeling awkward, as she escaped upstairs as soon as Misty came out and hugged me.
“Where’s the location of the next Shard,” Misty asked me.
“Well,” I started. “There are no more Shards that we can find in Johto, for the moment. So we’ll have to try our luck in Kanto.”
“It’s going to feel good to be home,” Misty said as we walked off to Route 29 so I could take off without any staring.
“You realize that you cannot talk to your sisters about the Shards,” I said. “Besides, we have a couple of choices for the Shards that we want to get.”
“What are they,” Misty asked curiously.
“Well,” I began, “we can get the Thunder Shard, though I’m not sure if it would be in Vermillion City or the Power Plant. So we would be better off going for the Fire, Water, Grass, Poison, Rock, or Change Shards.”
“Why the Change,” Misty asked.
“Because Duplica is the only Change Master to ever exist,” I told her. “So what better place to look for it than her home?”
“Maybe the Celadon MegaPokeMart carries it,” Misty suggested in a smart-a** tone.
“Maybe they have the rest of the Shards, too,” I said in mock excitement. “Besides, we’re out of sight from New Bark Town. It’s all right to take flight.” Even as we took flight, we still argued about which Shard to locate and retrieve. We finally compromised and decided that we would go and get the Rock Shard, followed by the Water Shard.
When we landed in Pewter City, we noticed that there was a bit of a panic going on. We tried to ask some locals what was going on, but they wouldn’t say, they just ran away, screaming their heads off.
“What’s going on,” I asked as I pulled a man into the air. He couldn’t say anything, because he was so scared. All he could do was point in the direction of the Town Center. I walked up to the Town Center, but there was nothing there except a note. It read:

Bob,
You might have noticed that there is something of a panic going on in Pewter City. They have been going on like this for days, and me just sitting here in the Town Center, laughing my head off at these weak mortals. I am making them see an image of a huge monster that is destroying the city as you read. You must know the feeling. Anyway, you just don’t seem to die, do you? My rockets didn’t stop you, or Lance’s PC bomb. Nothing can stop you from annihilating me. Ah, where does the time go? I filled this letter with gibberish just so I could have time to kill you. By the time you reach the postscript, you will be dead or dying. Anyway, stay tuned, murderer.

Mysticman John Flargini

P.S. duck
“What does he mean,” Misty asked, “‘duck’? I don’t get-”
“He means ‘DUCK’,” I yelled as I threw Misty and myself down to the ground as a rocket ripped through the Town Center. If we would have stayed up a millisecond later, it would have hit us.
“That son of a b****,” Misty cursed as we got up through the rubble. “He wrote that note just do he could catch us off guard.”
“I know,” I said. “But the most that we can do is collect the Rock Shard. Let’s go talk to Brock.” We walked through the mass of screaming people towards Brock’s Gym, hoping that he would be in there today. In there he was, beating the crap out of a punching bag with his stony fists.
“Uh…Brock,” I tentatively said as I walked up to him. “We were-”
“Looking for the Rock Shard,” Brock finished for me. “It is not here. I have checked personally everywhere. The only place that I haven’t checked would have to be Mount Moon. That will save you some time, I do hope.”
“Thanks, Brock,” I said as I walked out of his Gym.
“Sure,” he replied, still beating upon the punching bag, though it was strewn all over the ground in a big mess, all of the stuffing out of it.
“That was quick,” I said to Misty in an undertone as we left the Gym. “Wonder why he’s been checking all of the places around Pewter City. I mean that this Shard business resides only in you, Ash, the Elite Four, and me. How does Brock know?”
“I’m not sure,” Misty admitted. “But in the meantime, we have to find the Rock Shard.” We stopped talking and walked through the screaming villagers of Pewter City towards Mount Moon.
When we reached Mount Moon, there were many rocks in front of the entrance, as though no one wanted us to enter. I hyper beamed them out of the way and sent out Flare. He lit up the cave tremendously. We continued to walk through the cave, as we weren’t sure where the Rock Shard would be.
“Let’s take this passage over here,” I suggested as a changed direction towards a path that had not been there previously in all my trips to Kanto. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“Okay, then,” Misty shrugged, following me down the narrow passage. When we reached the end, we had realized that we were out of Mount Moon in a clearing filled with wild pokemon. There were mainly Nidorino, Nidorina, Clefairy and Jigglypuff, along with some Nidoran, both male and female, baby Cleffa and baby Igglybuff. Out in the middle of the clearing, there was a huge, clear rock with a brown dot in the center. I walked closer to inspect it. The Rock Shard was inside the Moon Stone! I charged a hyper beam and shot it at the Moon Stone. There wasn’t even a dent in it. I charged up for the most powerful attack that a pokemon could use.
“HYPER BLAST,” I yelled, and shot it at the Moon Stone. A beam came forth from my hands and was about to hit the rock, when a Clefairy jumped on top of it and used a reflect attack, which deflected the beam. The Clefairy then evolved into a Clefable! All of the other pokemon went up and touched the Moon Stone. Soon, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Wigglytuff and Clefable surrounded us. They all started to wiggle their fingers as if they were going to attack. They were about to use Metronome!
- End of Chapter Six -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Seven
While Misty and I braced ourselves for whichever attack we about to hit us, sparkly powder drifted down and hit the metronoming pokemon. They then froze solid, not moving.
“What just happened,” Misty asked me as we walked closer to the Rock Shard. The answer, however, was just jumping down from above us.
“Hello, son,” Lorelei said as she walked up to us. “You must get the Rock Shard and get the h*** out of here before something bad happens.”
“Okay,” I said as I sent another attack at the Moon Stone. “HYPER BLAST!” A beam that was about the width of my pinky shot out of my hand, then, when it was one inch away from the target, erupted into a beam that was bigger than the moon stone itself and shattered it. I grabbed the Rock Shard and put it in its respective spot on the medallion.
“The reason that you must get out of here, Bob,” Lorelei said, “is that the mole in the Pokemon League is growing ever more active. I would advise you not to go back there, as you don’t know whom to trust. Keep the Shard business between Misty, Ash, you, and myself. We are the only ones that you can trust. But, Flargini can also control them, so if their pupils disappear, knock them out and get away as quick as possible. Do you understand? Leave me now. Go find the next Elemental Shard. You must complete it before Flargini collects one shard. But, before you go, let me tell you something. You can remove the Shard that is of your own element from the medallion if you see fit. Go now, and complete the medallion.” I then picked Misty up in my arms, and flew away towards Cerulean City.
When we reached it, everybody seemed normal, and was walking around in a cheery mood. We headed directly for the Gym where Misty’s sister would hopefully be at.
“O my God,” Violet said as Misty and I walked in. “Like, what are you doing here with your boyfriend?”
“Actually, this time,” Misty started, “it’s confidential League business, and so we can’t tell you. We just need to ask you something.”
“Really,” Daisy said as she walked in. “Ask us anything. If it’s for the good of the League, then we’ll cooperate. We remember what happened the last time that the League was corrupt.”
“Good,” I spoke up for the first time. “If you three sisters had a water artifact, where would be the best place to put it?”
“Most likely in that one chamber at the bottom of the pool that we can’t get open,” Lily said. “We discovered it once Daisy dived right on top of it and broke her nose.” Daisy was furious while the other Misty, Lily, and Violet all had smirks on their faces.
“Um.” I began, trying to sound nonchalant, “what did it have on it? Was it a door? Were there any buttons?”
“Some kinda design,” Lily offered.
“Yeah, there was a door, but we couldn’t open it,” Daisy said.
“There was these weird squares on there,” Violet stated. Misty took off her cloak and shoes and dived into the water. I followed suit. Then, of course, I heard three professional diver splashes right after me. Misty could stay down there as long as she liked, as she could breathe underwater. I, however, was given a breathing apparatus that was about the size of my fist.
We made it down to the chamber that the three Waterflower sisters couldn’t open. There was an enigma on it, as there had been on most of the others. It read:

This test is physical, not mental,
So you must use your strength.
But if you don’t you shall perish.
How long can you hold your breath?

I pressed the button under the clue, and the door split and opened. The five of us swam down into the depths of the chamber. I wondered how deep that it actually went, until we came to a shimming mist that covered the entire passageway. I wondered what it was, but I had no time to figure it out. I just swam right through it, and I ran out of air! The breathing apparatus on my mouth had malfunctioned! The four women behind me did the same, and everybody but Misty was out of air. I grabbed Violet and Daisy, while Misty grabbed Lily. I sprouted my wings and used them to propel me faster than even Misty. After about 10 seconds, we reached another shimmering energy wall. Inside, was a blue shard lying on top of a podium. I went through the energy wall, and instead of going down, I was going forwards, instead! There was no more water, and I could breathe. Misty and Lily showed up about five seconds later.
“Is that what I think that it is,” Misty asked me.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s the Water Shard. Once I connect it to the other Shards, we’ll be almost half-done.”
“Okay,” Lily said. “I am like totally weirded out.”
“Yeah,” Daisy agreed. “Like, what the h*** is going on here?” Misty and I weren’t listening as I grabbed the Water Shard and attached it to the reconstructed part of the medallion. Immediately after I had connected the Water Shard with the others, the golden light disappeared, and water rushed in to meet us. We were not vertical as we had been; we were now horizontal with no breathing apparatus. I grabbed Violet and Lily, the closest two of Misty’s sisters, called my wings, and swam as fast as my Mastery allowed me to towards the surface of the pool. When we reached the surface, we all took a refreshing breath of fresh air.
“Which Shard are we going to get next,” Misty asked me. “Well, I mean, what are our choices?”
“Well,” I started, “we could get the Grass, Thunder, Fire, Psychic, or Poison Shards.”
“Okay,” Violet said. “What the h*** are you two talking about? And what is the deal with the secret chamber down there?”
“We can’t really explain right now,” Misty offered. “But we will explain everything once we are done with this mission.”
“See you three girls later,” I said as I called my cloak and ran out of the door to the Gym. We continued to go to a little café up on the Cerulean Cape. We ordered our meal and discussed where the next location of the Shard that we would try to collect, the Thunder Shard.
“Could it be in Vermillion City,” Misty asked.
“Perhaps it could be in the Power Plant,” I said. “It could be anywhere that the Thunder Element exists.”
“If we don’t know where it is,” Misty said, “then how are we supposed to find it?”
“Where is the place that the most electricity is stored in Kanto or Johto,” I asked her. She still had a blank look on her face. “The power plant. They still haven’t figured out how that thing is still running after that machine part was stolen by Team Rocket.”
“So we have to get the part from Team Rocket, and then we have to go all the way back to the power plant to put it in and get the Thunder Shard,” Misty asked.
“Yep,” I said. “This Shard will be complicated to get. Perhaps my father will just give me the part. Despite the fact that he hates me.”
“Yeah,” Misty said. “That can always be a problem. But since you’re the Pokemon League Champion, and he’s a Gym Leader, he has to obey your orders.”
“He also denied in a court of law that he had anything to do with Team Rocket,” I said. “He’ll just deny that he has the part. Technically, there’s nothing that I can do.”
“Let’s just sneak into his place of business,” Misty said as she leaned in, “and steal the part back.”
“I suppose that we could do that,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“After we eat,” Misty said. “You know that we both haven’t eaten properly in days.”
“Fine,” I conceded. “I just want to get that part back so we can get the Thunder Shard.” We finished our dinner and then we flew off towards Viridian City, where my father’s Gym was located.
“Are you ready,” Misty asked me as we both stood outside of the door to the Gym.
“Yeah,” I said. “HYPER BLAST!” The beam knocked the door down and I walked in to talk with my father.
“Meh,” Misty said. “So much for the subtle approach.” She followed me in there as Ground trainers started to swarm around us.
“Quagsire,” a trainer yelled. “Use Earthquake.”
“Scarlet, go,” I said. “Ice Beam.” Scarlet obeyed and the trainer’s Quagsire was frozen solid.
“He’s the League Champion,” the trainer exclaimed as he bent down on one knee. All of the others followed suit. Giovanni walked in, along with his Persian.
“Ah, son,” Giovanni started, though I cut him off.
“I am not, and will never be your son,” I said. “Now to cut to the chase. Give us that machine part that you stole from the Power Plant awhile back.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Giovanni offered. “You both know that I severed all my ties with Team Rocket after that you defeated Lance. Without him, Team Rocket would have never taken place at all.”
“What are you saying,” I asked him.
“Master Lance funded Team Rocket with the League’s power,” he continued.
“Nothing about Lance surprises me any more,” I dismissed it. “Underlings, leave now.” They all got up and ran out of the door. “Now you are going to tell me where that machine part is at before I have to use force.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Giovanni breathed. I picked him up by his shirt and slammed him against the wall.
“Tell me,” I said. “NOW!” His eyes flashed over to the painting on the wall beside him. “Thank you.” I then set him down gently. I removed the painting, and sure enough, there was a safe behind it.
“There’s nothing in there,” Giovanni insisted.
“Sure,” I said. “Outrage.” My fists erupted in a teal fire, and I punched repeatedly through the door to the safe. The machine part was safely stowed away in there. I took it out and walked out the door.
“Um,” Misty said as she turned to follow me. “Thanks for your cooperation, I think.”
“Any time,” Giovanni answered her, rubbing his chest where I had picked him up. She followed me while I was heading to the PokeCenter in Viridian City.
“I thought that we were gonna sneak in,” Misty complained as she caught up to me. “He could’ve shot you on the spot. He did have a gun, you know.”
“Big deal,” I said. “We got what we wanted and now we can go and get the Thunder Shard and continue completing the medallion so we can defeat Flargini.”
“Okay,” Misty said. “But the next time we go up against somebody with a gun, be a little bit more careful, okay?”
“Fine,” I replied. “Hold on.” She grabbed on to me and we flew back towards Cerulean City.
We landed a little bit out of town so we wouldn’t be noticed. There was a hiker on the route that ran up to us. We weren’t wearing our cloaks so we wouldn’t attract attention.
“Hey,” the hiker said. “I’m kinda bored. Do you want to battle me?”
“You don’t want to battle me,” I replied in a soft and dangerous voice.
“Yeah,” the hiker persisted, “I do want to battle you. A one-on-one battle. We each choose one pokemon and battle.”
“You really don’t want to battle him,” Misty tried again.
“Come on,” the hiker said. “You know you want to.”
“Fine,” I said. “Choose your pokemon. Better, yet, play to my weakness. Go, Puff. Make this quick. We have work to do.” Puff came out of its pokeball in a flash of teal light.
“Go,” the hiker yelled as he threw out a pokeball, paying no attention to my Mastery. “Machamp!” A huge, muscled Machamp came out and met with Puff. “Machamp, Cross Chop!”
“Puff,” I said quietly, “Elemental imbalance.” Right before the Machamp hit Puff with a powerful fighting blow, Puff turned into maroon energy and hit Machamp, knocking him out.
“Holy s***,” the hiker said. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have battled you. Here, take this. It’s a little something that I found in Rock Tunnel. I think that it’s a flute. I tried playing it, but I’m no good. See that inscription on the side, there? It looks like some sort of ancient writing. Hope that you had better luck than I did with it.” With that, he turned around and left.
“What does it do,” Misty asked me. “It can’t just be a flute with those ancient symbols on it. Hold on, that looks like unown writing!”
“Perhaps it has something to do with the medallion,” I wondered out loud. “Let’s give it a try.” I put my fingers on the holes and blew. A haunting, wonderful melody came out. It was actually a visible melody. There was a whitish haze drifting into the shape of a square. I stopped playing and the haze shifted into a map of Kanto and Johto! There were eighteen X’s on the map; each one the color of an element. This is the map of the Elemental Shards.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking,” Misty asked.
“Perhaps,” I answered. “If you’re thinking that we just found the map to the Elemental Shards.”
“Yeah,” Misty said, still staring at the map. “That’d be it.” The map was showing that the Thunder Shard, was indeed underneath the Power Plant.
“Let’s go,” I said. We ran off down the route to the Power Plant. However, we would have to surf the rest of the way downstream. I sent out my red Gyarados and she sent out her blue Gyarados. We both hopped on our Gyarados and surfed downstream to the Power Plant.
After about a ten-minute trip, we arrived at the Power Plant and the guards let us in to talk to the manager.
“Are you crazy,” the manager said as we told him what we wanted to do. “You can’t possibly be serious. You two teenagers want me to let you go into the part of the Power Plant with the highest amount of voltage? I’m sorry, but I can’t. if you were a Ground Master and immune to thunder, I’d let you in, I seriously would. But you’re not, so I won’t. That’s my final answer.”
“You know that we’re going in, anyway,” I said. “As I am the Pokemon League Champion, I have access to go anywhere. And you know it.”
“Yeah,” the manager said. “But, you have to give me the Machine Part that we have been missing for four years.”
“Deal,” I said as I tossed the part to him. I then walked over to the part of the plant where the power was generated. I walked through the door, with no thought of the electricity in there. Misty on the other hand, created a force field of liquid blue energy around her. We walked in there for about a half an hour when I tripped over a handle on the floor. There seemed to be a trapdoor and that was the handle.
“Think that the Shard is under here,” I asked Misty.
“One can only hope,” Misty said nervously. I pulled open the door and walked down the ladder. Misty followed me. There was really nothing down there besides cleaning equipment. But there was a big steel frame by the wall with a sheet draped over it. It was the door to the Thunder Shard. I read the clue on the door:

Make it to the end of the room,
Moving one square at a time.
Make one wrong move and you’re fried,
Paying the ultimate fine.

“I’m betting that that’s not as cheerful as it sounds,” Misty said.
“You stay here,” I said. “I’ll go.” I pressed the button under the door and watched it open. There was the Thunder Shard at the end of the room, though there was no floor. Instead, there was crackling electricity where the floor was supposed to be. Suddenly, a floor appeared, though the tiles were disappearing and reappearing as they pleased.
“Be careful,” Misty warned me. I just nodded and took one step on to the floor. I hopped from tile to tile, hoping that they wouldn’t fall out. I was three tiles away from the shard. I jumped onto another tile, right when it disappeared! I quickly changed direction and ended up hanging from a tile with one hand. I heard Misty scream. I sure hope that that tile didn’t go out…

- End of Chapter Seven -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Eight

I had to get out of this predicament, and fast. I swung myself up and over and landed on the tile that I had been hanging onto before. I then did flips and back flips over to the Thunder Shard. I landed right behind it and grabbed it. I then hopped all the way back to Misty. I attached the Shard to the rest and put it back inside my cloak.
“We’re half-done,” I said to Misty. I heard a clapping from the ladder.
“Bravo,” Flargini said. “You’re almost going to defeat me. Almost. Without the medallion, you will never defeat me. And if I kill you before you complete the medallion, I will win.” He generated his katana and came at me as I called my teal one. We were fighting and I was getting very close to the edge. He came at me and I dived at his legs, forcing him to fly over me into the crackling electricity below us.
“That won’t keep him for long,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.” Misty and I took off as fast as possible out of the Power Plant.
“Which Shard are we going to get next,” Misty asked. “While you decide, give me the flute so we can figure out the location.” She grabbed the flute from me and made the map appear.
“Um,” I said. “Let’s go get the Fire Shard on Cinnabar Island.” I put everything in my cloak, grabbed Misty and we flew off together towards Cinnabar Island.
When we landed, it was about midnight. We had to go and talk to Blaine about where the Shard could be.
“Blaine, open up,” I said as I banged on the door to his motel. The door opened.
“Bob,” Blaine asked wearily. “Do you realize that it’s midnight?”

“Yeah,” I said. “And we need your help.”
“What for,” Blaine asked.
“We need to get into your volcano,” I replied.
“Okay,” Blaine said. “But make sure that all of the Slugma and Macargo are out of there.” The three of us ran up to the top of the volcano. Misty sprayed a Hydro Pump down there to harden the lava, and we jumped down there on the hardened surface.
“Outrage,” I said as my fists erupted with a teal fire. I punched down repeatedly, while Blaine and Misty just stood there and watched. When I reached the bottom, my fist hit something metal and my fist started to hurt. I pulled it out, Blaine held out his hand, and all of the lava cleared away for us to see the door.
“Now why didn’t you just do that in the first place,” Misty asked grumpily.
“Bob looked liked he was having fun,” Blaine smirked.
“Shut up the both of you,” I said. “Let me have a look at this door.” There was a riddle on the door, as there were on all of the others. It read:

What lies beneath this door is worse than hell,
Surely you don’t want to go in.
But, alas, if you insist,
You’ll go to hell anyway, as doing this is a sin.

“Well,” Blaine said, “that’s sure pleasant.”
“Actually,” I said. “That’s one of the better ones.” I pressed the button underneath the riddle and steam that could melt steel came out. Misty sprayed some water down there and it ceased.
“This is even too hot for me,” Blaine said. “But, as the resident Fire Master, I’ll jump down first.” With that, he called his red cloak and jumped down into the fiery abyss.
“Well,” I said. “At least we’re all resistant to fire.”
“Very funny, dragon boy,” Misty said sarcastically. “Just go into the hole.”
“Now there’s something I thought that I’d never hear you say,” I said as I dodged a blast of water and jumped in after Blaine. I realized that I was falling into a pit of lava, when a hand reached out and grabbed me.
“You all right,” Blaine asked as he pulled me onto the cliff where he had landed.
“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s just wait to go in. I have to catch Misty.” She came down, and I caught her in my arms.
“Nice catch,” Misty said. I put her down and looked over the chasm. There was something over there that was reflecting red light. I picked her back up again.
“What are you doing, Bob,” Blaine asked.
“Going to get the Fire Shard that’s across that chasm filled with lava,” I said. “I think that I should fly because I’m not that good of a swimmer.” I added that last part sarcastically. I then called my wings and flew over to the other side. Blaine followed us by lava surfing.
When we got over there, I grabbed the Shard and connected it to the reconstructed part of the medallion.
“Whew,” Misty said. “Only eight more Shards to collect and then we can defeat Flargini.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Blaine said. “But I’ll go along with it anyways.”
“Now,” I said. “Let’s get the h*** out of here so we can go get another Shard.” I picked Misty back up, when the ground started to rumble.
“What’s that,” Misty asked.
“The volcano,” Blaine said, just realizing something. “This was supposed to be a secret chamber that only the worthy can enter. Mainly Fire Masters. If an unworthy person entered, it would explode. Cinnabar Island will be no more.”
“That’s just great,” I said. “Is there anyway that we can stop it?”
“Well,” Blaine said. “There is supposed to be another chamber, but it’s under the lava. I’ll go. Get out of here and warn the citizens.”
“How will we know if you fail,” Misty asked.
“The volcano will erupt, duh,” Blaine said. “If I fix it, I’ll send up a sign.” We took his word for it and watched him dive into the lava. Misty and I flew out of the cave, and went to the Town Center.
“People of Cinnabar Island,” I yelled. “There is a chance that the volcano will erupt. You must evacuate immediately. Blaine is working on solving the problem as we speak. You must hurry. There isn’t much-” The volcano exploded! There was a panic and water flooded from the sea onto the land. Every person and pokemon on Cinnabar Island was trapped, not being able to get off the island, waiting for his or her doom. I was not going to let that happen. We couldn’t evacuate the people by sea, or by air. There had to be a way. I had to figure out some way…
Blaine had to be dead. There was no way that he could have survived that rush of cold water into the volcano. But, we had a different problem to worry about. The lava was getting closer, and we had no way to evacuate the people, or to stop the lava. I had and idea!
“All trainers with pokemon of a psychic attack,” I yelled. “Please come forward and let them out.” All that there was on the entire island was Misty’s Golduck, a Girafarig, an Alakazam, and a Mr. Mime. But the Mr. Mime was already busy creating walls to stop the lava. Misty’s Golduck was using Hydro Pump to slow down the lava, while the other psychic pokemon were using their psychic attacks to stop the lava. It looked like we were fighting a losing battle.
“How is it working, Bob,” a voice said behind me that scared the carp out of me. It was Sabrina. She must have teleported here while we weren’t paying attention.
“Not good,” I said. “Could you give those Psychic pokemon over there a little help?”
“Sure,” she said and hovered over there. I, however, took off into the sky. I flew above the lava that was advancing rapidly. I summoned a twister to suck up all of the lava. Sabrina knew what I was up to, and helped me out. With my twister, I sucked up all of the lava and deposited it over the sea. I flew back down, where Misty and those psychic pokemon were keeping the rest of it at bay. The volcano exploded again, and something was hurtling towards us. It crashed into a building behind us, and I went to check it out. It was Blaine! His glasses were broken, and his cloak charred.
“Blaine,” I said. “What the h*** happened?”
“I fixed it,” Blaine said. “But it was right.”
“What was right,” I asked.
“The riddle,” Blaine said. “It was right. Underneath, it was worse than h***.” With that, he fell over, dead. I couldn’t believe it. Blaine, one of the best Pokemon Masters in the League, was dead. The volcano had stopped, but I had lost a Master in the process. A red energy orb, which was Blaine’s Fire Mastery, appeared in his hand, which I placed inside my cloak. There was two pieces of charred paper inside of Blaine’s cloak. One of them was from Blaine himself. It read:

To whomever may be reading this,
This is my will. I knew that my end was coming shortly, so I wrote this. The most important thing shall be first, my Fire Mastery. I will leave it to my one and only daughter. She lives in Goldenrod City with her mother. Her name is Darla Blaine. As the new Fire Master, she also inherits my Gym on Cinnabar Island and all of my possessions. She also inherits my hotel and everything in it. As for all my money, she also gets it all. That is everything, so I hope that you all will never forget me.

Sincerely,
Anthony Blaine, The Fire Master

“I never knew that Blaine had a daughter,” Misty gasped. “We have to find her and tell her the news about her father. It’d be the right thing to do.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But let me read this other letter.” I pulled out the other charred piece of paper and unfolded it.

Bob,
Yep, killing Blaine was my handiwork. I did eventually cut him a deal. I would let him turn off the volcano, but I would kill him. I just wish that I could’ve killed both you and Misty when I was in my killing mood. I am not on this island anymore, and I couldn’t care less about his little girl. But I will be back for you, Bob. And I will kill you. I don’t care how long it takes. You will be dead by my hands. By the way, did you know that Blaine’s first name was Anthony? I didn’t. I didn’t fix his will or anything, just so you can sleep better tonight. Watch out for you and your little whore, Bob, because the fireworks have just begun.

From,
Mysticman John Flargini

“He killed Blaine,” I said, with my teeth clenched. “He will die at my hands, I don’t care if it kills me, too. He will die.”
“Bob,” Misty said. “Let’s go. We have to go and inform Blaine’s daughter about what happened. We’ll fly from here. Okay?” I was in silence, but I degenerated my cloak and called my wings. I then motioned her to get on. I took off, leaving Sabrina and Cinnabar Island far behind.
We landed in Goldenrod City and went to a phone booth. I picked up the address book, and looked for the name ‘Blaine’. Perhaps his wife was still in town. I tore out the address and went there. I knocked on the door, and a woman in her late forties opened it.
“Um…Mrs. Blaine,” I asked, hoping I was right.
“Yes,” she said, leaning against the door.
“Something has happened to your husband,” I said
“My ex-husband,” she corrected. “If you mean Anthony.”
“Yes,” I said. “Anthony was in an accident. The volcano on Cinnabar Island exploded, and he was killed saving the island.”
“He was always the heroic type,” she said. “Let me guess, the reason that you’re here is to discuss his will with me.”
“Actually,” I said. “I’ve come to talk with your daughter, Darla. Blaine left everything to her.”
“Is that a fact,” she asked. “Well, then, come on in. Darla! Come into the living room.” A teenage girl, around the same age as me, came down the stairs and sat in a chair. Misty and I took seats on their couch.
“Hey,” Darla said. “You’re the Pokemon League Champion.”
“Um…yeah,” I said. “I am. I have to discuss something with you. It’s about your father. The thing is, he died. He died saving Cinnabar Island.” Darla clapped her hands to her mouth. “But, he left everything that he owned, in your possession. That includes his Gym, his hotel, all of his money and worldly possessions, with you. But, there is something more important than all of that. He left you his Fire Mastery.” I pulled out the red energy orb.
“What’s that,” Darla asked.
“Your father’s Fire Mastery,” I said. “He left it to you. This is one of the two ways that becoming a Master is possible. The other is inheriting from one of your parents, which you did not. If you take this orb, you will become a Fire Master and will be sent to train at the League Headquarters. There, you can train your fire pokemon, and yourself. Your father’s pokemon were also left in your possession. If you are a Master or not, from this point on, you shall be a Gym Leader. You’ll have to leave Goldenrod City no matter what you do. What’s your choice? I’ll leave you some time to talk about it with your mother. I’ll be back tomorrow at noon to see what your choice is.” I tucked the Fire Orb inside my cloak and got up. I was headed out the door.
“I don’t need until tomorrow to decide,” Darla said. “Following in Dad’s footsteps are what I’ve always dreamed of. I will be a Fire Master, and I will preserve my Father’s legend.”
“Good,” I said as I held out my hand. “So we have an agreement.” She shook my hand and I held out the orb for her to take. She took it, and it was absorbed into her very bloodstream. I handed her Blaine’s 4 pokemon. His Magmar, his Rapidash, his Macargo, and his Houndoom. She was kind of speechless as she walked out of the room to go pack, and I pulled out my teal cell phone from my cloak. I dialed the League Headquarters.
“Hello Koga,” I said, “I’m sure that you’ve heard about Blaine. Well, he left his Mastery to his fifteen-year-old daughter. I’ve given Blaine’s Fire Orb to her and she took it willingly. Send a helicopter to come and pick her up for her Mastery training.”
“Yes, Bob,” Koga said through the phone. It will be there on the top of the Radio Tower in fifteen minutes. I trust that you have briefed her.”
“Yes,” I said. “She knows everything except Flargini. I feel that she shouldn’t know about her father’s murderer.”
“I was never told that Blaine was murdered,” Koga exclaimed. “I suppose that you will take care of him. How many Elemental Shards do you have?”
“Ten,” I said. “We’re hoping that the Normal Shard is in Goldenrod City. Once we locate it, we will resume our mission. I’m guessing that Blaine’s funeral will take place tomorrow.”
“Yes,” Koga said. “Blaine’s ex-wife and daughter are asked to come. Also, before I forget, I will have someone prepare a eulogy for you to read.”
“Good,” I said. “I will be there tomorrow. I am sending Darla’s mother along with her.”
“Excellent,” Koga said. “Blaine’s body has been transported here and is being prepped for burial. I assume that you would like his body to be buried in the Master cemetery by the Palace of the Elite Four.”
“Yes,” I replied. “That is all. I will see you tomorrow, though I wish that it were under better circumstances, such as the medallion being completed. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye,” Koga said as he hung up the phone. I closed my cell phone and stuffed it inside my cloak. Mrs. Blaine walked up to me.
“Anthony was murdered,” she asked, though she knew the answer. “You told me that he died because the volcano exploded.”
“He did,” I said. “He stopped the volcano from fully erupting. However, somebody created the explosion which ended up killing him.”
“Who,” Mrs. Blaine asked. “Were they affiliated with the League?”
“No,” I said. “As a matter in fact, he has been on the League’s most wanted list for the past few weeks. He will be brought to justice for the murder of many innocent people, including Anthony.”
“Good,” she replied. “Just don’t tell Darla, or she’ll go after him by herself.”
“You have my word,” I said as Darla walked into the room, packed and ready to go. We walked out of their house and went up to the top of the Radio Tower. A helicopter was waiting for us there. Darla and Mrs. Blaine got in, and they flew off towards Indigo Plateau. Misty and I jumped off of the Radio Tower, and landed on the street. Misty played the flute, and the map of the Shards appeared.
“Well,” Misty said. “What do you know? The Normal Shard is in Goldenrod City. it says that it’s in the Radio Tower. Let’s go and have a look.” We walked into the Radio Tower and went and talked to the Manager.
“Have you ever seen this artifact before,” I asked him, as I showed him a picture of the Normal Shard.
“Why yes,” the manager exclaimed. “We found it here when we tore down the old Radio Tower. It’s right here.” He pulled out a key from his pocket and opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out the Normal Shard and handed it to me. “You can have it. I have no use for it.” I attached the Normal Shard to the Normal Shard to the medallion and it stuck. Suddenly, there was an explosion right behind us! Flargini was standing outside of the hole that he had just created with one of his rockets.
“Hey Bob,” Flargini said. “I’m not playing games anymore. Kinda a pity about Blaine, though. He was a good guy. However, if that’s what I do to people that I like, just wait and see what I do to you.” His glider, with him holding his katana on it, flew into the room, leaving no escape…
- End of Chapter Eight -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Nine

I dived out of the way of Flargini’s glider and called my katana. He jumped off of his glider and we started to duel. He took a slash at me, and I ducked and took his feet out from underneath of him. He fell to the floor, and I was running away, my cloak billowing out behind me. He however, threw his katana and pinned my cloak to the wall. He got up and ran over to me. I threw off my cloak when he tackled me. I threw him off of me, when I felt the building move. Flargini’s glider was still firing rockets at the building! Misty and the manager were standing there, watching this. Flargini rolled out the hole that I had created. He landed on top of his glider and flew away. He threw his purple cloak with stars and moons at the building, and it exploded! I felt the building starting to tip.
“Misty,” I said. “Go and evacuate everybody in the building we have to get everybody out of here. Now!” She and the manager rushed down the stairs, while I jumped out of the hole that Flargini had created. I threw my six dragon pokemon out in all different directions, all of them erupting from their teal pokeballs in a flash of teal light. I called my wings, and stared back up at the tipping building.
“Scarlet, Dragonight, Dragon, Aeroy, Flare, Puff,” I commanded, “we have to hold up that building long enough for Misty and the others to get out.” They all nodded and braced themselves up against the building. We were fighting a losing battle, as the building was almost dislocated. We all heard a loud snap, and had to work harder. I shot a Hyper Beam out of my feet, propelling me faster. The building straightened itself a little bit more, but that tired me out and I couldn’t keep it up much longer. All of my pokemon were blowing a flamethrower or fire blasting so they could get more pressure. I saw a spout of water come up right in front of my face, and I looked down to see where the water had come from. Misty was down on the ground. She was waving and yelling that everybody was safe. I had to check it out, though. I flew in an open window, and searched around for anybody.
“Is anybody in here,” I yelled. I heard a muffled screaming coming from down the corridor. I flew down there at breakneck speed and went into the office. There was a little girl, cowering in a corner. I picked her up.
“Who are you,” she asked.
“I’m Bob,” I said. “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”
“Okay,” the little girl said. I felt a shift in the tilt. We were now tipping the other way! The top of the Radio Tower was falling into the ocean! I took flight down the corridor and spotted the first open window that I saw. I couldn’t see anything but water out of it. There was no other option. I flew out of the window and towards the water, shielding the little girl. I had always carried a breathing apparatus with me.
“Put this is your mouth,” I said to the girl. She took it, and did as she was told. I protected the girl from the impact of the water. I swam as deep as I possibly could, because the top of the tower was following me. I heard an ear-deafening splash behind us, and I was running out of room to swim in. Not to mention air. I immediately cut sideways as fast as I could. The little girl had her eyes open in fear, as she saw what was going on behind us. The tower hit the ocean floor, and the dust flew. I cut up, and flew out of the water toward the crowd. There were police and firefighters there, controlling the crowd. I landed and the little girl’s father ran up to me and took the girl.
“How can I ever thank you,” the man asked as his daughter hugged him tight.
“Don’t ever bring your daughter to work again,” I advised. There were lots of reporters waiting to interview me.
“Was this the work of the so-called Mysticman John Flargini,” one of them asked.
“Yes,” I said. “But the League has it under control. Nobody was hurt. That’s all that matters right now. I myself will put a stop to this insane man.”
“Is there a double-agent in the League,” another reporter asked.
“No,” I lied. “I trust all of the Pokemon Masters within and outside of, the League. No more questions.” I was looking for Misty. I snapped my fingers and the cops set up a barricade so the reporters couldn’t get to me. I finally saw Misty running towards me. As she came up to me, she hugged me tight.
“Oh, Bob,” Misty said. “I was so worried. I didn’t think that you would make it.” My pokemon flew down beside us.
“But I did,” I said. I then kissed her on the lips to ease her worries. “And I always will.” We then walked off to Whitney’s Gym to get away from the media.
“O my God,” Whitney said when we told her what had happened to the Radio Tower. “Flargini destroyed the Radio Tower. How many people died?”
“Thanks to me and Misty,” I said, “none. But he could’ve killed hundreds. And for that, and killing Blaine, he will pay.”
“I heard what happened to Blaine,” Whitney said. “So the funeral is tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You’re supposed to come to the service. He’ll be buried in the Master cemetery by The Palace Of The Elite Four. Wear your Master’s cloak.” Misty and I walked out of her Gym and flew to Indigo Plateau.
“Bob,” Darla asked as we landed. “What the h*** happened to the Radio Tower?”
“Darla,” her mother scolded. “Watch your language. Now Bob, what the h*** happened to the Radio Tower?”
“Flargini,” I said. “He blew off the top with his rockets from a glider. But nobody was killed or injured. We’re lucky because of that fact.”
“O good,” Darla said. “What did it fall on?”
“The ocean,” I said. “So the only damage that was done was to the Radio Tower itself.”
“Does the media blame you,” Darla asked.
“If I wouldn’t have saved that girl or my pokemon hadn’t helped keep the building upright,” I said, “they would’ve.”
“We’re gonna go sleep,” Misty said. “We haven’t slept good for…well…whenever this whole Flargini business started.”
“Then you two go get some sleep,” Koga said as he joined in. “And I mean ‘sleep’. You know, where you close your eyes and stop functioning.”
“Koga,” I said. “You can trust us. Seriously, we’re tired. You must be too.”
“As a ninja,” Koga said. “We can function well without sleep for a week.”
“Gotcha,” I said as I walked to my chambers. I just fell onto my bed and fell right asleep. Misty just collapsed right beside me.
When we woke up, it was about 3 o’clock in the morning. Since the funeral wasn’t until eight, we still had some time. Duplica knocked on the door and came in.
“Bob, Misty,” she whispered. “I saw you up and figured that you two couldn’t sleep.”
“Well,” I said. “We have been sleeping for the past twelve hours. So I think that you’re right.”
“Well,” Duplica said. “There’s something that I have to discuss with you. It’s about Flargini.” I kind of looked down and away from both of them.
“What do you need to know,” I asked, still looking away.
“Did he kill Blaine,” she asked. I kind of hesitated for a moment.
“Yes,” I said. “Flargini killed Blaine. And I swore to his ex-wife that he would die by my hands.”
“I see,” Duplica said. “I just picked up the paper. The League gets it 5 hours early, so I got up and took it. Read the front page.” I took the paper from her and looked at the top headline, Misty reading over my shoulder.
“It says ‘Pokemon League Champion saves lives in the Radio Tower bombing’,” I said. “So? What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is there,” Duplica said. “Underneath the picture. It says that there is a double agent in the League. Is there?”
“How did they find out,” I wondered out loud. “I told them that there wasn’t.”
“So, is there,” Duplica asked.
“I’m not gonna lie to you,” I said. “Yes, there is one.”
“Who is it,” Duplica asked, her curiosity peaking.
“If I knew, they’d be dead already,” I said.
“Whenever someone opposes you,” Duplica asked, “do they always have to end up dead? Misty, you’ve got a real winner here.”
“Big deal,” I said. “I killed Lance. The point was, it was him or me. I won, he lost. I have to get ready for the funeral.” Duplica went out and back to her room, and Misty put her hand on my shoulder.
“What’s wrong,” Misty asked me.
“Nothing,” I said, though something was. “I’m fine.”
“No,” Misty said. “You’re not. Tell me.” She had that look on her face, that look where she wouldn’t give up until she found out.
“Remember when Flargini sent me that first letter,” I asked.
“Yeah,” Misty said, not sure where this was going.
“He said that he’d make me lose what mattered most to me,” I continued. “Even more than my own life. There’s only one thing that I can lose that’s more important than my own life.”
“What’s that,” Misty asked.
“You,” I said. “That’s why I don’t want you coming with me. Flargini may kill you.”
“Oh,” Misty said. She was looking sad at first, then relieved. “I thought that you were cheating on me.”
“What,” I asked. “Why would I ever do that? You know that I love you.” We stares at each other for a moment, then we kissed, softly, and gently, and we didn’t stop for a long time.
All of the Pokemon Masters were there at Blaine’s funeral, in their cloaks, including Darla, as her training was going well. I gave the eulogy, and watched one of the best Pokemon Masters in the entire League, go down into the ground, for an eternal rest. Some of the other Masters, such as Erika, Whitney, and Janine, were all crying because of the loss of Blaine. Sabrina, however, was just standing there, with her eyes closed. Though it looked like she did not even care, I knew that she was the one giving out the most emotion of all. It was a rainy day, and all of us walked back into the Palace of the Elite Four after the service was done and over with. I even saw Lorelei on top of a nearby building, also mourning the loss of Blaine. As I was about to walk inside the Palace of the Elite Four, a piece of soaked paper drifted down and I caught it, it was from Lorelei.
It read:

Dearest Bob,
It was a good thing that you did for Darla. Giving that wonderful eulogy in front of her; it makes me wish that they would trust me enough to have let me attend. Blaine was one of my closest friends, you know. We may have disagreed on elements at one time or another; he always supported me for doing what I wanted to do. He was a good man. I hope that this little sidetrack will not stop you from locating the rest of the Shards and defeating Flargini. Good luck, my son.

Sincerely,
Lorelei, The Ice Master

“Hey Bob,” Misty said. “Come in. It’s pouring out there.” I looked up one last time, and then I walked through the doors, with Misty’s hand in mine.
The next day, Misty and I used the flute to figure out which Shard we would try and locate next.
“Well,” Misty said. “We could go and get the Steel Shard. Or if you want to go into Kanto we can get the Grass, Poison, Ground, or Psychic Shards.”
“Let’s go and collect the final ones from Johto,” I said. “Then we’ll go and get the ones from Kanto.” I was still kind of subdued from the last day. Blaine’s funeral had been anything other than uplifting. Misty held on to me, and we flew off towards Olivine City.
When we landed, we headed directly for Jasmine’s Gym. We entered, and Jasmine was training with her Steelix.
“Oh,” Jasmine said. “How are you two?” She was still kind of subdued, too. She had also been sad about the Radio Tower bombing.
“Aside from Blaine’s death, the Radio Tower being destroyed, and Flargini still on the loose,” I said, “just fine.”
“That bad, huh,” Jasmine sympathized. “Well, I assume that you’re here to collect another Elemental Shard. If it’s anything but steel, I don’t know where to look.”
“Well,” Misty spoke up. “It is the Steel Shard that we’re after. Would you have any idea where it may be? Our map indicates that it is indeed in Olivine City.”
“Perhaps you can check the steel mines out back,” Jasmine suggested. “My pokemon and I will come and help you dig through the steel.”
“Great,” I said. “The only type that’s strong against dragon, and I have to pound through at least ten feet of it.”
“Well,” Jasmine said. “The scanner said that it was twenty.”
“Joy freaking joy,” I said as the three of us walked out to the steel mines behind her Gym. Jasmine was right, there was a whole bunch of steel behind her Gym. She handed us both picks that she had conjured from her Mastery, and we all began to dig. Her Scizor was using his Metal Claw to get through the steel, her Steelix, his iron tail, her Skarmory, her steel wing, her Magenton and her Forretress were exploding once the others got some headway.
“This…is…hard…work,” Misty panted. I had removed my cloak and thrown it aside, and was working in a pair of teal pants, and a teal cutoff T-shirt.
“Yeah,” I said. “But just remember, were doing this to avenge Blaine’s death.”
“What do you mean,” Jasmine asked. “How will this help get revenge on the volcano? Poor Blaine, his love killed him.”
“The volcano didn’t kill Blaine,” I said. “Flargini did.”
“What,” Jasmine said. “But the volcano exploded-”
“After Flargini had taken away Blaine’s life source,” I said. “That’s another reason that I’m collecting the Shards. I’m doing it for vengeance.” My pick hit a metal that I couldn’t break. I hyper beamed the rest of the remained steel. There it was, the door to the Steel Shard. There was a clue in Unown writing, as the other doors had been. It read:

Are you like the steel type,
Which is strong, quick, and cunning?
If you cannot defeat it,
Away from it you shall be running.

“Flare, go,” I said. “Be prepared to use your flamethrower. We’re gonna need it.” The flame on Flare’s tail erupted as he was getting pumped.
“Um, as you can imagine,” Jasmine stated, “I don’t like fire. So can I ask Flare to step away from me?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Flare, you heard her. Come closer to the door. Be ready.” I pressed the button under the clue. The door opened, and we were faced with a room with just the shard on a podium. I walked into the room and grabbed the Shard. The doors closed behind me, and I was trapped inside the room, while Misty, Jasmine, and Flare were on the outside.
“Bob,” I head Misty yelling. “What’s going on?” I couldn’t respond, as I was paralyzed with fear. Out of the steel walls, cam two six-foot steel people, holding katanas, and advancing steadily, and ready to kill.
“This can be anything but good,” I said to myself. As for the steel swordsmen, they were almost to me, ready to slice me into bits. With the door closed, I had no way to escape…
- End of Chapter Nine -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Ten

As the swordsmen were advancing, I didn’t know what to do. There was no way that I could defeat both of them, as they were not alive. I just had to fight them until Misty, Jasmine, and Flare got their way into the chamber. I called my katana and blocked theirs just before they were about to slice me in half. I ducked and rolled underneath of them, causing them to run into each other and fall down. They got back up, and charged towards me again. It seemed that they were fast, but not very bright. I dropped two of my teal pokeballs and they rolled behind the two swordsmen. They happened to contain Puff and Scarlet. Those two burst out of their pokeballs and looked over the scene.
“Puff, Scarlet,” I said. “Flamethrower, now.” They both let out a burst of flame, and the two swordsmen melted. I saw them coming back to life, however, and ordered them to keep those two swordsmen at bay. They kept them at a constant liquid puddle of molten steel, and Aeroy and I worked on destroying the door. I could hear Flare working on it from the other side. Aeroy was using Fire Blast, and I was using Hyper Beam. Aeroy switched and used a Hyper Beam. The door flew off it’s hinges and the my three pokemon and I ran out of the chamber. I returned, Scarlet, Flare, Aeroy, and Puff, as we all ran back to the Gym.
“How many more Shards do we need,” Misty asked.
“Only six,” I replied. “And if my calculations are correct, the closest Shard will be in Ecruteak City, and it will be the Ghost Shard.”
“See you guys, then,” Jasmine said as we took off for Ecruteak City. It only took us about five minutes to fly to Ecruteak City. It looked like a normal day, so we headed directly for the Gym. As we entered, we saw Morty sitting cross-legged on the floor, with his eyes closed, and he was talking to no one.
“Actually,” Morty said, still not talking to us, “I’ve gotta go. I’ll talk to you later. She’s fine. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. Her training is going great. She already knows how to create clothes and her cloak. But really, I have to go, Bob and Misty are here. I’m thinking that they are here to locate the Ghost Shard. Bye then.” He opened his eyes.
“Who were you talking to,” Misty asked him.
“You know what the best thing about being a Ghost Master is,” Morty said. “It’s that you get to talk to your friends…even after they’re dead. That was Blaine. He was just checking up on all of the other Masters. Mostly Darla. He wanted to know how her training was going. But I assume that you two are here to find the Ghost Shard. Well, I don’t know where it is. It could be in the Burned Tower, formerly the Brass Tower. That’s my only suggestion. Have a good day.” He then went back talking to Blaine. That kind of freaked Misty and me out.
We walked out of Morty’s” Gym and over to the Burned Tower, which was at the edge of town.
“Do you think that it’s in here,” Misty asked as we entered.
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I do. But, as for the exact location, I don’t know. The flute pointed to Ecruteak City, so we’ll have to trust it. It’s been right so far.”
“Yeah,” Misty said. “I suppose that you’re right. Let’s just go in and get this over with.” We walked in, and it was dark in there.
“Go Flare,” I said, and in a flash of teal light, it got remarkably brighter in there. We walked deeper in there, and we almost needed more light. We continued walking, and we crashed through a loose floorboard! The three of us fell down onto the below level, though we didn’t even know that there was one.
“That’s gonna hurt tomorrow,” Misty complained as I helped her up.
“Everybody okay,” I asked. I got a grunt from Flare and a dirty look from Misty. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’” We walked deeper and deeper. It was looking less like a tower and more like a cave. We climbed up some steps, but we couldn’t see into the darkness. We found a stick down there, and I ripped off part of my cloak, which grew back immediately after. Flare lit it, and we climbed up the stairs. We came up to three statues that looked remarkably real.
“What do you think that they are,” Misty asked. They looked like pokemon, though I’ve never seen anything like them. I went up and touched one on the forehead. It was stone. The stone moved!
“Holy crap,” I said, as I backed away quickly. It kept on moving, and the stone fell off of it. It turned into a live pokemon! My Pokedex beeped. I took it out and pointed it at the new pokemon.
“Suicune,” my teal Pokedex said in a computerized voice. “The Aurora Pokemon. This pokemon is one of the three legendary dogs of fire, water, and thunder. Suicune tears across the earth, making the filthiest waters pure reservoirs.” Another of the statues started to move! It had cleared itself off of the stone that covered it, as Suicune had done. I pointed my Pokedex at it.
“Raikou,” my Pokedex said. “The Thunderstorm Pokemon. This pokemon is one of the three legendary dogs of fire, water, and thunder. It zooms across the land, shooting off electricity.” The third and last statue shook off all of the stone that had been attached to it. I pointed my Pokedex at that one, too.
“Entei,” my Pokedex said. “The Volcano Pokemon. This pokemon is one of the three legendary dogs of fire, water, and thunder. It is said that every time it barks, a volcano erupts.” All three of the pokemon looked at me as if I were supposed to do something. Then, suddenly, they all bolted and ran. All I saw was a three flashes of light: one red, one blue, and one yellow.
“What the h*** just happened here,” Misty asked in wonder.
“We’ve just released the three legendary dogs into the wild,” I said. “But that doesn’t matter. We’ve gotta find the Ghost Shard.” We walked onto the platform that Entei, Raikou, and Suicune were standing on. Behind them was a steel door. The door to the Ghost Shard!
“This is it,” Misty said. “But what did that have to do with the legendary dogs?”
“They were evidently guarding the shard,” I said. “But they really didn’t care much about it, and they were afraid, so they ran.” We walked up to the door and read the clue in Unown writing. It read:

This challenge may look impossible,
Or then again it may not.
The legendary have been released,
But will they be caught?

“Uh-oh,” Misty said. “I never thought about that. What if a trainer catches them?” I looked for a button to press. There wasn’t one.
“Now there’s no button,” I said, disgusted. “These clues just get harder and harder.” I punched the wall in anger, though I went right through! I fell over, and when I looked up, I saw the Ghost Shard lying on a podium.
“Why didn’t we think of that,” Misty asked as she walked in and grabbed the Ghost Shard. “Here.” She threw the Ghost Shard down on the floor in front of me and I grabbed. I got up, put the Shard on the rest of the medallion. We walked out of the door, and it just disappeared. The chamber that once held the Shard was gone. I called out Flare and commanded him to use dig. He dug a hole into the wall and ten minutes later, we were out.
“So,” I said. “Now that we have the Ghost Shard, we only have five more shards left.” We were walking towards the PokeCenter to stay the night. After all, it was getting dark. We checked in as regular trainers, and went to our quarters for the night. We had to get a good night’s rest, because I wanted to finish the medallion tomorrow.
“Come on, Misty,” I said as I shook her awake. “We have to wake up so we can go and get some more shards.”
“Just give me five more hours,” Misty said. “Then we can go and get all the Shards that you want.” She fell back asleep. I put my hand on her shoulder, and generated some teal clothes for her.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” I said. I picked her up and slung her over my shoulder. I checked out of the PokeCenter, getting some odd looks because of Misty still sleeping. I decided to walk to Goldenrod City, because I had to get to the Magnet Train and get to Kanto because all of the remaining Shards were all in Kanto. I was walking for about a half-hour, when Misty woke up.
“Huh,” Misty said as she opened her eyes. “Where are we?”
“On the route to Goldenrod City,” I replied. “All of the Shards that we haven’t gotten yet are there. There are no more left in Johto.” I set her down so that she could walk.
“Why didn’t you wake me up,” Misty said as she created her own blue clothes. “I would’ve liked to know this.”
“You said that you needed five more hours of sleep,” I smirked. “So I let you have as much as you needed. Evidently, you only needed a half-hour.”
“Let’s just keep moving,” I said as I looked at my watch. “The train leaves in twenty minutes. It will take us about fifteen more to get there.” We sped up our pace. It took us about fifteen more minutes to get there, as I had guessed. There was no line, as everybody was still on the train. I made a note to look at the Radio Tower. After only a few days, they were almost done. The Radio Tower would be better than it was before. Well, the top half would.
“Come on,” Misty said as she tugged on my sleeve. “The train’s leaving in one minute. Let’s go.” We showed the guard out pass and he let us on the train. We took our seats and the Magnet Train sped off towards Saffron City.
The train stopped and we were let out at Saffron City. We headed directly for Sabrina’s Gym so we could find the Psychic Shard. We went in and messed around on the teleporting pads for while before we found her.
“Ah,” Sabrina said as we found her at last. “I saw you coming about the time that you left Cinnabar Island. You also need the Psychic Shard. To tell the truth, I don’t know where it is. I’ve been scanning for it ever since Blaine’s death. Something just doesn’t add up.” She then closed her eyes and we stepped on a teleportation pad. We ended up in a room with none of Sabrina’s underlings in it.
“Where could it be,” I shouted in fury. “We need to find that Shard before Flargini finds any.” I went over to lean against the wall. However, I just fell right through it! I got up and there was the door to the Psychic Shard. I went up to the door. Right when I reached it, it opened, and Mysticman John Flargini was standing there, holding the Psychic Shard in his hand…
- End of Chapter Ten -

The Dragon Master II: Chapter Eleven

“Looks like I’ve won,” Flargini said as he walked ever so closer to me. “Without this Shard, you can never defeat me. I’ve already proven to you that I can resurrect myself. So why even bother, Bob? Why not just give up and pledge your allegiance to me?”
“I will never,” I said. “I will never give my loyalty to a murderer.”
“But you’re a murderer yourself,” Flargini said. “You killed Lance. If you had not done so, I wouldn’t be here, trying to stop you.”
“Trying to stop me,” I said as I threw my cloak in his face and called my teal katana. I swung it as hard as I could at his face. But he called his katana and threw my cloak off his face and blocked my own.
“If that’s the way you want to play,” Flargini said. “Then so be it.” He unhooked his cloak and let it slide down to the floor. “We will battle where nobody can see us, and where nobody can interfere.” He snapped his fingers, and everything but him and me disappeared. I hoped that I could walk safely.
“Let’s go,” I said as I stepped forward, ready to attack. I swung my katana, though he blocked it. I was going out fully offensive, though he was blocking every single blow. How could this be? Regardless, I kept on attacking. Slash, cut, stab, spin, block, all went through my head as I fought Flargini. Then I realized that there was no way to escape. He controlled this universe. I could do nothing except keep on fighting.
“Duck,” a voice said behind me. I did as it commanded, just in time for a psychic blast to come over my head. It nailed Flargini and the face, and I saw the Psychic Shard fly out of his hand and was caught in another. I looked behind me. It was Sabrina and Misty! I had no time to figure out how they got in there, as Sabrina brought us out with a snap of her fingers.
“I believe that this belongs to you,” Sabrina said as she handed me the Shard. I placed it on the medallion, and it stuck in place.
“Thanks,” I said. “But we have to-”
“Go,” Sabrina said with a slight smile. “I know. Go get the Grass Shard next. That is the closest one. Goodbye.” She teleported us out and to Celadon City. She then teleported back to her Gym.
“Wow,” Misty said. “Hey, you have a cut on your shoulder.” She pointed to my left shoulder.
“I wonder how that happened,” I said. “Flargini never got a hit off.”
“Let’s go to the PokeCenter to get it healed,” Misty suggested.
“Nah,” I said. “I’ll be fine.” I called my cloak, and we went into Erika’s Gym. All of her underlings stared as we passed.
“Bob, Misty,” Erika said as we walked in. “What are you two doing in Celadon City? Away for a romantic vacation?”
“Um…no,” I said. “We’re here because we need the Grass Shard. After we possess this one, we will need only three more. Plus, we’re short on time. So if you had any suggestions…”
“Well,” Erika started, “I guess that you could check in my garden. There is this mausoleum that I can’t open. Even Bruno tried to open it; but no luck. Come out here, and I’ll show you.” She walked out and we followed her. It was like walking into a green paradise. There were grass pokemon of every kind out there. Most of the were soaking up the sun.
“Here’s the mausoleum,” Erika said as we saw the stone building. Misty came over, but she tripped over a rock. I went over to inspect it. I pushed it down, and the door to the crypt opened! There were some lit torches inside there, so I grabbed one and walked in. There was a staircase that hopefully led down to the Grass Shard. We walked downwards for about 10 minutes when we came to a door. There was a puzzle in Unown writing. It read:

Yes, the Grass Shard is hidden I here,
Though, why do you want it?
What is the point of trying for it?
As you will never will get it.

“Okay,” Erika said. “I don’t know what this is about, but I’m kinda intrigued.” Misty and I both looked at her oddly.
“What are you talking about,” I asked her. “Intrigued? There’s a good chance that we’ll be killed! Still intrigued?”
“Kinda,” Erika said. I shook my head in disbelief and pressed the button. We came upon a jungle full of plants. There was the Grass Shard, right in the middle of it all. It was on a raised podium. I stepped up onto it and grabbed it. I connected it to the medallion, and the ground started to rumble! I looked at the edge of the jungle. A Vileplume, at least twenty feet tall, came out and looked at me. It had the most angered look on its face that I had ever seen. And I had pushed Misty into a pool once.
“Holy s***,” I said quietly. “Holy s***. Holy s***. This can be anything but good.” The Vileplume looked at me, and then it charged a solarbeam. It fired, and I got out of the way.
“Do something, Bob,” Misty yelled. I could never beat it with my dragon attacks. I would have to use the medallion. I held it up towards the giant Vileplume.
“Fire Shard,” I commanded. “Fire Blast.” A star-shaped fire blast shot out of the medallion and hit the Vileplume. I quickly thought of what other attacks were good against Vileplume. It was part poison, so Psychic should do well. “Psychic!” I yelled and a psychic wave of energy shot out of the Psychic Shard and hit the overgrown Vileplume.
“It’s really powerful,” Erika exclaimed. She then threw one of her green pokeballs at it. It sent a toxic at it, and blasted it to pieces. “That little b****.” Misty dragged Erika away from the Vileplume. What other attacks is it weak against?
“Duh,” I said, smacking myself on the forehead. I called my wings, and used wing attack over and over on the overgrown Vileplume. Finally, it collapsed on the ground.
“That was both amazing and freaky on so many levels,” Erika exclaimed. I ignored her and walked up the stairs out of the mausoleum. Misty and I left Erika in her Gym to train.
“That was hard,” I said. “That Vileplume didn’t want to go down. Let’s go to Viridian City and get the Ground Shard.”
“How do we know that it’s there,” Misty asked. “Use the flute.” She handed me the flute and I blew into it. Sure enough, the Ground Shard was located in Viridian City.
“Let’s go,” I said. I picked Misty up in my arms, called my wings, and flew to Viridian City.
When we landed, I headed directly for the Gym, Misty still in my arms. She looked at me kind of weird before she said anything.
“Um…you know,” Misty said. “My legs aren’t broken.”
“Oh,” I said. “I forgot.” I set her down and she rolled her eyes. We headed for the Gym, where my father was positioned. I burst through the doors, and all of the trainers looked at me.
“What do you need, Master Bob,” one of the asked.
“Is there anything that I can get you,” another queried.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just go back to your training. I have to speak with my father.”
“If I may speak, sir,” a young boy asked. “Master Giovanni is not here. As his most trusted apprentice, I must care to your needs.”
“Um,” I said. “Okay. Do you have a map of the underground tunnels here?”
“Yes we do, Master Bob,” he said. “They’re located on the main computer over here.” He walked over to a big computer inside of Giovanni’s office.
“Whoa,” Misty said as she came in. “There are hacking devices in here that could hack into the League.”
“I know,” I said. I knew that my father had been monitoring League meetings. “I’ll just print what I need, and I’ll import a virus into the computer.” Giovanni’s apprentice had no objection to it.
“Aren’t you going to object,” I said. “This virus will delete all of the files in the computer.”
“I know,” the young apprentice said. “I’ve told Master Giovanni many times to stop hacking into League files. He deserves it.” I turned it on, downloaded, printed, and looked at a map that I had taken off the computer.
“Almost done,” I said. I took a floppy disk out of my cloak, and put it in the computer. I did a bit of hacking, and the virus was free. The computer shut down, and that was it.
“Thanks for your help,” I said to the kid and I walked out. “Outrage.” My fists erupted in a teal fire, and I pounded though the floor, leaving Misty and I in a dirt corridor.
“Where are we now,” Misty asked. “Is the Shard anywhere close?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. I took the flute out of my cloak, and held it out in the palm of my hand.
“What are you doing,” Misty asked. I ignored her and continued.
“Ground Shard,” I whispered to it, and it swung around in my palm. It eventually pointed to the left. I turned left at the next corridor that I saw, and it said that I was straight ahead. I ran as fast as I could down the hallway and the flute did a one-eighty turn! I stopped running, and I felt Misty run into me.
“Why’d you stop,” Misty asked. I turned around, and walked a little bit. Again, the flute did a one-eighty. I turned around.
“Come behind me,” I said to Misty. I shot a hyper beam right in front of me and a door was left there. I walked up to it, stuck the flute inside of my cloak, and there was a riddle in Unown writing. It read:

This is more of an excavation,
Than anything else of its kind.
Which means that you’ll have to dig.
This will drive you out of your mind.

I looked at Misty, and I then pressed the button. Inside, were hundreds upon thousands of piles of dirt, which I am guessing that we had to dig through to get to the Ground Shard. I laid the flute out in front of my hand as I had done before.
“Ground Shard,” I said. The flute spun around and landed on a pile of dirt that was right beside me. I dug through the pile, and I found the Shard. I placed it in its respective spot, and was about to walk out the door.
“Don’t you ever wake up and think ‘Man, I feel like dying today,’ Flargini said as he walked up to me. “Because that would make my job a lot easier.” He then advanced on me.
“No katanas,” I said. “No weapons of any sort. Hand-to-hand combat. I will follow these rules, if you will.”
“Fine,” Flargini said as he dropped his cloak. “Let’s go.”
“Fine,” I said as I did the same. “Ladies first.” So Misty came up and kicked Flargini in the crotch.
“Why can’t guys just get to the point,” she asked.
“Ouch,” Flargini said.
“Oh, shut up,” she said as she kicked him the crotch again. “You two always have to be dramatic about it, don’t you? That was rhetorical. Let’s go.” Flargini teleported away, but not before I said something to him.
“Recover that,” I said, as I walked out of the Ground Chamber and it disappeared once again. However, my father was standing outside of it.
“So,” he said.
“So what,” I said.
“You put a virus in my computer,” Giovanni said. “That is completely illegal and you must now pay a fine.”
“I never put any virus in your computer,” I said. “I don’t know about you, but I have to go and finish my mission. Goodbye.” I walked past him, but he wasn’t finished and called after me.
“I will not tolerate this from my son,” Giovanni yelled. “I gave you life!” I slowly turned around.
“You may be the reason for my existence,” I said. “But my mother, Lorelei, is the one that gave me life. I don’t ever want to hear anything about you being my father again. If I do, I will take your Ground Mastery from you. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Giovanni said. “Have a f****** good day.”
“I will,” I said as I walked out his Gym. “By the way, you have a f****** good day, yourself.” I laughed my way out of the Gym.
“That was kinda mean,” Misty said.
“So,” I said. “You know that he deserved it. Let’s go to Fuchsia City.” Misty hopped into my arms and we flew off towards Fuchsia City.
When we landed, Janine was waiting for us. I wondered why she was out there, and why she was in Fuchsia City. She lived in Lavender Town.
“Why are you here,” Misty asked as I set her down. “Don’t you live in Lavender Town?”
“I’m the new Fuchsia City Gym Leader,” Janine responded. “My dad told me that you were coming. I’ve been filled in about the Shards. You’re here for the Poison Shard, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Do you have any idea where it is?”
“We could try the Safari Zone,” Janine suggested. “It’s closed, but the warden’s granddaughter and I used to hang out, so she gave me a key. You two ready?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We’re kinda short on time.” We walked through Fuchsia City, with everybody on the streets smiling and waving at Janine.
“Here we are,” Janine said. She stuck the key into the keyhole and turned it. The three of us entered, and we looked at all of the wild pokemon in there. There were Tauros, Scyther, Pinsir, and Kangaskhan in there, along with many other pokemon. We all went to the largest tree in the entire Pokemon Reserve.
“Is this the biggest one,” Misty asked. “It’s huge!”
“Yep,” Janine said proudly. “It’s the biggest one in both Kanto and Johto.” I, however, was examining the tree. I found a knot in the tree, and I pressed it. A panel on the tree slid open and the three of us walked in, with Misty and Janine with their mouths open. There was a big chasm and we somehow had to jump across it.
“I’m gonna jump,” I said to the two women beside me.
“No,” Misty said. “I won’t let you.” However, let me or not, I just took a running leap. I landed on the ledge on the other side, though I was hanging from it. To add to the danger of hanging over a bottomless pit, Grimer and Muk were climbing the walls of the chasm, hoping to reach me and kill me. I couldn’t pull myself up. It looked like the end…
- End of Chapter Eleven -
The Dragon Master II: Chapter Twelve

The poison pokemon were moving ever so closer to me. Except now, they were throwing sludge bombs at me.
“Hey,” I yelled at them. “Watch where you’re throwing those things.” There was only one thing that I could do. I had to fall. I kicked off from the wall as hard as I could, and I heard Misty scream.
“Bob, no,” Misty cried. As I plummeted deeper and deeper, the Grimer and Muk jumped off the walls as I had done. I looked up, and they were all following me deeper and deeper.
“Hyper Blast,” I said quietly, as I held out my hand in the shape of a gun. I thin beam of white light shot out of it. It reached the Grimer and Muk that were freefalling. “Now!” It was like a bomb just went off. The tip of the beam exploded, splattering all of those pokemon down into the bottomless pit. I called my wings and flew back up, where Misty was kneeling on the ground, crying. I landed behind her and kissed her gently on the neck. She looked up at me and screamed.
“What the h*** did you just do,” Misty scolded. “Do you have any idea what I was going through up here? God, men drive me insane.” Misty walked a few feet away and did not look at me.
“You really messed it up this time,” Janine said to me. “She’s not gonna talk to you for about a week now.”
“Oh, what would you know,” I replied. “Now, have you two figured out how you’re gonna get across?”
“Um, yeah,” Janine said. “You’re gonna fly us across.”
“Great,” I said. “Come on, Misty. Let’s go and get the Poison Shard.” Reluctantly, Misty came over and I grabbed her with one arm, and Janine with the other. I flew the three of us across the gap and onto the other side. I set the two women that I was carrying down, and the three of us walked towards the door. There was a clue on there in Unown writing. It read:

If you are reading this,
You must have survived the pit.
The way to get past this test,
Is to get yourself out of this deep s***.

“What deep s*** are we in,” I asked Misty and Janine.
“We aren’t,” Janine replied. “But we will be once we’ve entered this door. Let’s go.” She pressed the button below the clue. When it opened, we were amazed by what we saw. It was just the Poison Shard lying on a podium in the middle of a chamber.
“Some deep s***,” Misty said sarcastically. The three of us walked in and stood in front of the podium. I grabbed the Poison Shard and placed it onto the medallion. I heard a rumbling sound. The ground started to shake. We ran towards the door, but it closed. We were trapped inside of there!
“F***,” Janine cursed. “F*** this s***. What the h*** is going on?” I knew that whatever the answer would be, it was bad. A square foot panel opened on each of the four walls, and sand started to pour out of it. It grew in piles, and we would soon be out of air.
“This can’t be good,” I said. “Help me get this door open.” I called my katana and stuck it through the crack in the door.
“What are you doing,” Janine asked me.
“Trying to pry open this door,” I replied. “Now help me pull, or we won’t get out of here alive.” The three of us pulled at the door, but it wouldn’t even budge.
“So this is the deep s*** that the clue was talking about,” Misty said. The sand kept on pouring in, and the air was getting scarce. I took my katana out and degenerated it. I took a look at the back of the door. It looked like a place to put the Poison Shard! We were up to our thighs in sand. I was trying to pull the Poison Shard off the medallion. Six more pores opened. Sand was falling out of ten openings! We were up to our chests in sand.
“I can’t get it,” I said. Then I remembered what my mother had said about removing the Shards. Whatever element you wanted to take off, the respective Master had to do it. We were up to our necks in sand, though our arms were above it.
“Hurry up,” Misty said.
“Janine,” I said. “You’re the only one that can take it off.” I handed it to her. She took off the Poison Shard with ease, and handed it to me. I stuck it inside the hole that it was supposed to go in, and the doors opened! The three of us fell out, along with a couple thousand pounds of sand. Janine handed the medallion back to me, I took the Poison Shard out of the door, and I put it back on.
“Whew,” Janine said as we went back into Fuchsia City. “Let’s go and get a bite to eat. I’m kinda hungry.”
“Okay,” I said. “But we have to hurry. We only need one more Shard, the Change Shard.” We sat down at a little café and ordered. After we got through eating, we went back to Janine’s Gym.
“Get the flute out,” I said. “I have no idea where the Change Shard could be. It has no respective city.” Misty got out the flute and played it. I looked around Kanto and Johto for the Shard.
“There,” Misty said as she stopped playing. “It’s on Silence Bridge. That’s where Duplica’s house is. Let’s go. Thanks for everything, Janine.” We ran out of the Gym. We had no time to fly, as Flargini might be following us. So we proceeded to Silence Bridge incognito.
“Hey guys,” Duplica yelled when we came to her house. “What are you two doing here?”
“We were about to ask you the same question,” I said. “Go back to the Palace of the Elite Four. That is an order. I’m sorry, Duplica, but that’s just the way that it has to be.”
“Whatever,” Duplica said. “Just don’t go through my clothing drawers.” She then transformed into a Pidgey and flew off towards Indigo Plateau.
Misty and I, however, went into her house and started to poke around. I went over to her bookcase and started to look for books on the history of her house. I found an interesting book titled: Imitate House of Wonder. I tried to pull it out of the shelf, but it wouldn’t budge. So, I turned it sideways and the bookcase moved to the left to reveal an opening!
“Hey, Misty,” I said. “I found a secret passageway.” Misty came over to me and looked at the corridor with a wide-open mouth.
“How the h*** did you find that,” Misty asked.
“I pulled a book, and it moved,” I said. “It’s amazing how simple secret passageways can be sometimes.” In a flash of teal light, I let out Flare. The three of us advanced though the corridor.
After about five minutes of walking through the corridor, we found a steel door with a picture of the completed medallion on it. I took out of what was completed of the medallion and placed it in there. Something on the wall slid open next to us. It was a clue. It read:

So this is your final Shard,
Perhaps it will be not easy.
If you find it, good job!
If not, you shall be queasy.

“This won’t be good,” I said. I took the medallion out of the door and pushed the button underneath the clue on the wall. The door, instead of sliding open, transformed into a huge shiny Ditto. It looked at us with the most evil eyes, and then it transformed into a huge shiny Dragonite.
“D*****,” I cursed underneath my breath. “This is not good.”
“You think,” Misty said. “The Shard must be behind it. You distract it, and I’ll run away.”
“What,” I said to my girlfriend.
“Fine,” Misty replied. “You distract it and I’ll get the Shard.” The shiny Ditto fired an ice beam at me, which I promptly back flipped away. It came after me, and Misty slipped underneath of it. Then she disappeared. I had a different problem. The shiny Ditto was now firing Hyper Beams at me. I got hit, and was lying on the ground, with a cut above my eye that was bleeding. The shiny Ditto advanced on me in its Dragonite form. I saw it powering up a Dragon Rage. Suddenly, a blizzard caught it in the back, and it fainted. It landed about a foot from me. Standing behind it was a Lapras, with then transformed into Misty. She was holding the Change Shard in her hand.
“Good timing,” I said, as I got up holding my head. “Though a bit sooner would have helped. Let’s go outside.” We ran outside as quickly as we possibly could.
“O my God. O my God,” Misty said, jumping up and down. “We’ve done it. We’ve gotten all eighteen Elemental Shards. Come one, put the Change Shard on.” I put the Change Shard on, but it didn’t stick like the others. It fell off right away. I wondered what was going on.
“It won’t stick,” I said. “Let me take the Dragon Shard off and then try it.” Using my Mastery, I took the Dragon Shard off of the medallion. I then stuck the Change Shard on there. It snapped into place as all of the others had done.
“This is f***** up,” Misty said. “What is wrong?” I tried to put the Dragon Shard in again, but like the Change Shard, it wouldn’t stick. Something was terribly wrong.
“Problems,” a voice said behind Misty and me. The both of us whipped around and saw Mystiman John Flargini standing there, with his arms folded, looking at us trying to fit the Dragon Shard in.
“Now we can defeat you,” I spat in his face. “We’ve collected all of he Elemental Shards, so you’re going down.”
“Right,” Flargini said. “How can you do that when I have your girlfriend here under control?” I looked back at Misty, and sure enough, her pupils had disappeared and she was advancing on me with her two blue sai knives.
“Misty,” I said. “Snap out of it.” She didn’t. She sliced at me, while Flargini just stood there, chuckling.
“This has been good entertainment,” Flargini ordered Misty. “But now I’m bored. Kill him now.” I called my katana and blocked all of Misty’s stabs. She cut through my cloak, where the medallion was stored. It fell out, and I flew away. I couldn’t fight her. Mostly because I loved her. I flew away towards Goldenrod City, while Flargini put a hand on Misty’s shoulder and teleported away.
Things had never been worse. I had lost the two most important things to me. I lost Misty and the medallion. The only Shard that I had left was the Dragon Shard. I was in Goldenrod City, on top of what they had finished of the Radio Tower. All of the other Masters were under Flargini’s control, and they were destroying all of Goldenrod City, the buildings, the PokeCenters, and even the residents. There was nothing that I could do. The locals were fighting back, however. They were all on a platform, with a radio on. Most of them had guns. They were playing ‘Hero’ on the radio before Chuck smashed it to pieces. Then there was only screaming left.
“And they say that a hero can save us,” I sang under my breath. “I’m not gonna stand here and wait. I’ll fly on the wings of and eagle, and watch as we all fly away…” I felt a tear run down my face as I stopped singing. I heard screams coming down from the crowd below. The song is right, I thought. The song is right. A hero can save them. And I won’t stand here and wait. For the first time, I realized that I was more than a Master or a Pokemon League Champion to these people. I was, and had to be, a hero.
I silently landed on the front steps of the Palace of the Elite Four. I walked in, and two guards rushed up to meet me.
“Outrage,” I said as my fists erupted in a teal fire. I punched them both out, and that was that. I soundlessly sprinted down the corridor to my chambers. I had to find Flargini and the double agent inside the League, whomever it was…
I found myself outside of my chambers. I heard Flargini in there. He was with a woman. Her voice sounded familiar, way too familiar. I burst through the doors, and I saw Flargini, making out with Clair, the Gym Leader of Blackthorn City, my cousin, and now, the double agent inside the League.
“D***** you, Clair,” I whispered. “D***** you and him for all that you’ve done, and for all the pain that you’ve caused me to go through. And for all of this, you shall both die. Don’t worry, your bodies will be thrown off the same cliff together.”
“Very funny, Bob,” Flargini said. “But your Master friends might have something to say about that.” I spun around, and I saw all of the Pokemon Masters, except Lorelei, standing in the doorway, all of their pupils gone.
“Yes, Bob,” Clair spoke up. “It is actually Flargini who was working for me. I was so angry with you for killing Lance that I had to get some revenge. It just happened that Flargini wanted you dead as much as I do, perhaps even more. But in the end, I know that you would somehow end up dead. Not to mention the entire world that you so much loved. Plus the people in it.” I felt a nauseating pain in my head, as Flargini was taking me under his control…
- End of Chapter Twelve -
The Dragon Master II: Chapter Thirteen

Whack! Someone was hitting me, though I could barely feel it. Whack! Where was I? Whack! The last thing that I remember is Flargini…and Clair! I immediately sat up. It looked like I was in a different dimension. I was chained to an invisible wall, and so were all of the other people that Flargini had taken under control. I looked up and saw who was hitting me. It was a man in a teal cloak, and he was holding a lance.
“Hey, Bob,” Lance said as he threw off his hood that shadowed his face. “You thought that I was dead, didn’t you? Well I am, sorta. I live in Flargini’s mind. I’m the Warden of the prisoners of Flargini’s mind. This is the only place that I exist, besides that crappy grave in the Master’s cemetery that you gave me. All the way out in the woods, for crying out loud. Can’t you even give your own brother a proper burial?”
“You are not my brother,” I said in disgust and anger. “Delilah may have been my mother, but you were never, and never shall be my brother. You’re worse than…than…it doesn’t get worse than you. Flargini is better than you.” Lance then sliced me across the cheek with the tip of his lance.
“Don’t ever talk to me that way again,” Lance spat at me. “Or I will not only order Flargini to kill you, I will have him kill you little whore, too. Anyway, this was my backup plan in case pinning Delilah’s murder on you didn’t work. Which it didn’t.
Anyway, I will make sure that you die this time. nothing can stop me from that. see your other Master friends, all under Flargini’s control. I just woke you up because I wanted to talk to you before you died and I met you in h***. Do you even know where you are right now? You’re in a section of Flargini’s mind. Not a good place to be. Ah, I almost forgot, Flargini left this in my care.” Lance pulled out the medallion with the Dragon Shard missing out of his cloak.
“How the h*** did you get that,” I asked in wonder.
“Flargini gave it to me in case anybody out there in the real world tried to get revenge on him,” Lance replied. “But you have the Dragon Shard, don’t you? You will die in here, at my hands, Bob. But I think that I will kill your little girlfriend first.” Lance walked over to Misty, who was unconscious. He raised his lance, and my eyes turned teal, then bright silver.
“AGGGGHHHH,” I yelled as I broke the chains. I called my katana, and charged at Lance. He blocked me with his lance, and spun away.
“How the h*** did you do that,” Lance asked as he looked at the broken chains on the ground. I gave no response, as I couldn’t. I couldn’t control myself, as my eyes were silver. Lance and I battled it out, me faster than him. I ducked beneath a blow from him, and kicked his legs out from underneath of him. I stabbed him with my katana, and his body evaporated back to hell.
I grabbed the medallion that was lying on the floor and held it up to the Dragon Shard. Without any delay, the Dragon Shard whizzed over to the medallion and completed it. The Elemental Medallion was completed, and it levitated about five feet over my head. It was shifting into a different shape. It was like it liquidated, and the elements were swirling into each other. It fell onto the floor, fully transformed. It was now in the shape of a key! When Grandfather Largway said that it would be the key to defeating Flargini, he really meant it! I picked up the key with trembling hands. Right when I touched it, a door appeared where I was chained up. I ran over to it and put the key in the keyhole. I turned the key, and the door opened in front of me. Inside, there was a light brighter than anything that had ever existed. It was a silver ball of light. It was the same color as my eyes were when I couldn’t control myself. I went out and grabbed the ball. It was sucked through my skin right into my very veins! I was shocked, as the scenery changed around me, and I was back in my chambers, where I had found Clair and Flargini making out.
“Bob,” Flargini exclaimed. “I gave Lance the right to kill you.” My eyes had already turned a deadly silver.
“Well,” I explained. “Lance and I had a little chat, and I sent him back where he belonged. In other words, he went back to h***.”
“I see,” Flargini said. “This must mean that you have completed the medallion and found out it’s secret: power beyond all the Masters in the world combined.”
“Yep,” I said. “But now, it’s time for you and Clair to go give Lance a visit in h***. I bet that he’s feeling lonely.” I charged at Flargini with my katana raised. He blocked with his own, and counterattacked. He slashed me right across the shoulder, but it healed up right away! Flargini was flabbergasted. He could not even damage me. He was looking scared, when I cut him right through the middle.
“It can’t be,” Flargini said. All of the Masters that were under his control before came to it. “I said that you would pay, and you will.” He held up his hand once more, and then he was dead. I looked back at Misty, and she had called her blue sai knives, and stabbed herself through her stomach.
“No,” I yelled as I ran over to her. “Misty, come on. Please, come back.” She opened her eyes as I had her head held in my arms.
“Bob,” Misty said deliriously. “I’m dying, aren’t I?”
“You’re gonna be just fine,” I murmured. “You’re gonna be all better.”
“No, Bob,” Misty said. “I am gonna die. But remember this, I love you. I will always love you.”
“I love you too,” I said to her, tears welling up in my eyes. “I love you with all my heart and soul.” She smiled at me briefly, but then she started choking and blood started to ooze out of her mouth. Her eyes were still open, and I closed them. I then looked up, both fury and tears in my eyes. I turned around and looked at Clair.
“Um,” Clair said as I stared at her with the uttermost hatred. More hatred than when I looked at Lance. “It’s better to have loved and lost, then to have never have loved at all.”
“I’ll see you in h***,” I said as my eyes turned silver. “By the way, say hi to Lance for me.” I generated my katana and threw it at her as hard as I could. It caught her in the stomach, and pinned her against the wall.
I went back to Misty. Then, I cried. I cried more than I had ever cried in my entire lifetime. Misty was dead. I cried over her motionless body, and wished with all my might that she would come back to me. All of the other Masters in the rooms were showing lots of emotion, too. Even the burly Bruno was crying. Agatha, who had disappeared when I had taken over the League, peeked in, had an angry look on her face, and then she ran out. A silver tear had ran down my face, and entered Misty’s mouth.
“Come on, Bob,” Bruno said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go. You can’t stay here forever. She’s gone.” Reluctantly, I stood up and started to walk out of the room, when a saw a major glowing behind us. I whipped around, and Misty was standing up, and her wounds were healing. The medallion had brought her back to life! I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy. I ran over to Misty, and she regained consciousness. She was about to fall over, but I caught her and looked her in the eyes.
“Bob,” she said questioningly. “Bob! Oh, I’m so glad that I didn’t leave you. I never wanted to leave you. Bob, I love you.”
“I love you too, Misty,” I said as I kissed her on the lips. Now, all of the women in the room were crying, and the men just had smiles on their faces. Even Sabrina was crying. We all walked out of the room, and out of the Palace of the Elite Four.
Awhile after that, everything was back to normal. All of us Masters had helped rebuild Goldenrod City, and we explained what had happened. Even the Radio Tower was back up! Back at the Palace, Misty and I were lying on my bed.
“So,” Misty said. “How did you defeat Flargini?” I explained everything to her, and that took about an hour.
“I have the key, or the medallion,” I said, “right in my cloak, Flargini, Clair, and Lance are all dead. Except…”
“Except what,” Misty said.
“In Dark Cave,” I said, “I saw someone in a blue cloak talking to Flargini. Who was that?”
“That was Clair,” Misty said. “She had stolen one of my cloaks and had used it to make you think that I was the double-agent.”
“So,” I said. “Is everything back to normal?”
“Yes,” Misty replied. “Except, we never did see Agatha after she popped in and out.”
“Ah,” I said. “Let’s not worry about her. She disconnected from the League after Lance had died. She won’t bring us anymore problems.”
“Yeah,” Misty said. “I hope that you’re right.” We went out on the balcony, and stood and watched the moon, in silence. We really didn’t have to talk to each other, as we both knew how the other one felt. I guess that that’s what love can do to two people. Nothing in the world can destroy our love. Nothing.
- End of Chapter Thirteen -
- ______ End of The Dragon Master II __ ___ -