Less than half an hour later, and Taylor had successfully
found and captured her first-ever Pokémon. "Well, that didn't take long at
all," she remarked, as she picked the Poké Ball back up off the ground.
"Yeah, but now's the important part," said
Brandon. "Now you gotta train it. A freshly-caught Pidgey like that won't
stand a chance against Graham's team. You'll have to train it up a bit before
you can take him on."
"And how long will that take?" asked Taylor.
"I dunno," said Brandon, shrugging. "Until
you think you're ready, I guess."
This didn't seem particularly helpful to Taylor.
"Well, how will I know when I'm ready?" she asked.
"You can't," said Brandon. "You just gotta
try and guess, as best you can."
"Right," said Taylor, who was still rather
confused. "Would it help if I caught some more Pokémon? Will these two be
enough, do you think?"
"Well, it can never hurt to have a few Pokémon in
reserve, just in case," said Brandon. "Just remember, you're only
allowed to carry six at a time, and in pro tournaments you can only use three
per battle. That helps keep it fair."
"How many Pokémon will Graham use?" asked
Taylor.
"Well, since this is your first Gym, he'll probably
only use two," said Brandon. "But I'd say get a couple more, just to
be on the safe side."
"Alright," said Taylor. "Good thing we
brought plenty of Poké Balls."
Brandon nodded. "One more thing, though," he
added. "Your Pokémon will get stronger from fighting other trainers' Pokémon
than they will from fighting wild Pokémon. There should be plenty of other
rookie trainers around, as this is a pretty popular training area, so it
shouldn't be long before we run into-"
"OMIGOSH! IT'S BRANDON WELLS!"
Taylor jumped at the sudden shout from behind them,
whereas Brandon, accustomed to the attention, smiled. "Excuse me for a
moment," he said, turning his attention to the excited teen girl who was
now rushing over to him.
"Brandon, I'm your biggest fan!" squealed the
girl. "Can I have your autograph?"
"Sure thing," said Brandon, taking a notepad
and pen out of his jacket. "And who do I make this out to?"
"Katie," said the girl, her eyes sparkling.
"'To Katie…'" As Brandon wrote out the
autograph, Taylor was reminded of just who her mentor and companion actually
was. Brandon Wells was not just some run-of-the-mill trainer: he was a
world-class Pokémon Master and one of the sport's brightest talents. Not only
that, but he was a former winner of both the Indigo Masters and the Johto
Masters, two of the most prestigious Pokémon tournaments in the entire world. Why
a trainer of his calibre had agreed to coach someone like her was completely
beyond her, and so far Brandon had said nothing about it. At some point, she
would simply have to ask him.
For now, Brandon was content to sign yet another
autograph, the swift and fluid motions of his hand betraying the frequency with
which he undertook this particular task. Tearing the page out of the notebook,
he handed it to the girl. "There you go," he said.
The girl let out a little squeal of joy. "Thank
you!" she said. "Oh! Can I get a selfie with you, as well?"
"Sure, why not," said Brandon.
Taylor sighed, starting to get a little impatient. As the
excited fangirl pulled out her phone and lined up next to Brandon, Taylor leant
back against a nearby tree and idly checked her phone's Pokédex app. As
expected, her caught Pidgey's data had been automatically recorded into it, as
well as that of her Eevee. Elekid was listed as well, thanks to her battle against
Kieran, but because she had not actually caught one, its data had not been
logged. I wonder how long it would take
me to complete this thing, she thought to herself. Probably years…
Finally, having obtained her selfie and posted it on
Instagram, the excited girl thanked Brandon one last time and ran off. Brandon
smiled as he watched her go. "Been a while since I signed one of
those," he mused. "Well, anyway, now that that's outta the way, how
about we go find some trainers to battle?"
"Sure," said Taylor. "Oh, wait… if you're
with me, won't people be a bit more nervous about fighting me? I mean, since
they'd all be beginners as well…"
Brandon considered this for a moment. "Hmm… good
point," he said. "Alright, then how about we split up for now? I'll
go catch a couple more Pokémon for you, and you go get some battle experience
under your belt. Sound like a plan?"
"Yeah, sounds good to me," said Taylor.
"Oh, but we should probably swap numbers, just in case we can't find each
other again, or something."
"I was just about to suggest that," said
Brandon, taking out his smartphone. "Alright, lay 'em on me."
Taylor gave Brandon her phone number, and Brandon gave
her his. "Alright, that's that entered in," said Taylor. "Well, I
guess I'll see you later, then."
"See ya," said Brandon, and with that he headed
off into the forest in search of more wild Pokémon. Taylor headed the other way
in search of trainers, still pondering why such a stellar trainer had agreed to
be her coach.
No comments:
Post a Comment