Day 228

[from Pokémon xTreme]

By the time the group landed outside the entrance to the Mt. Moon cave system, Emma's erratic flying had made Taylor extremely dizzy and she was close to vomiting. "That settles it," she said, as she staggered off of Charizard's back, trying not to topple over. "Next time we have to go anywhere, I'm taking a taxi."

"I'm sorry," said Emma, as she slid off of Charizard's back. "I didn't realize you had air sickness. I'll be more gentle next time."

"There won't be a next time…" Taylor placed her hands against a nearby tree to steady herself and bent over, holding back a retch.

Brandon shook his head with amusement. "Well, that at least oughta make our travel arrangements easier," he said as he withdrew his Charizard. "Emma and I can fly on Charizard while you take the cab, or whatever."

"Sounds good to me," said Emma, withdrawing Crobat and then latching onto Brandon's arm.

"Alright then," said Brandon. "As soon as Taylor's feeling better, we can get going. You'll be alright, won't you, Taylor?"

Taylor nodded, raising a hand. "Yeah, just… give me a minute…"

As Taylor continued to steady herself, Brandon watched on with mild concern. "Damn," he muttered to himself. "I've never met someone who hated flying so much."

"Don't take it personally, dear," Emma said. "Not everyone enjoys flying as much as you do. Some people just aren't cut out for it."

"Yeah, I guess not," said Brandon. "Don't take that personally either, Taylor."

"No offence taken," said Taylor, finally straightening herself and stepping away from the tree, albeit still a little shakily. "Let's go."

***

The caves within Mt. Moon had been illuminated by bright torches mounted on the walls, and so the trio were able to make their way through without any problem. "There should be other trainers in here," said Brandon. "Let me go ahead, see if I can smoke some of them out for you to battle."

Somehow, Taylor felt uneasy at the idea of being left alone with Emma. Maybe it was just the poor first impression she'd received, courtesy of the wild flight there. "No, that's okay," she said, "we'll find some eventually. Besides, there's plenty of Pokémon here to fight. Any worth catching?"

"Well, like I said earlier, we might be able to find a Paras in here," said Brandon. "Although now that I come to think about it, I don't think Paras learns any useful Grass-type moves for a while, so it wouldn't actually be of any use against Lisa."

"So… I shouldn't bother catching any of these Pokémon?" asked Taylor.

"Oh, you can if you want to," said Brandon. "Remember, the more, the merrier, and some of them might come in handy later on down the line. But yeah, none of them will be useful against Lisa, or the guy who comes after her."

"Why?" asked Taylor. "Who's the guy who comes after?"

Brandon grinned. "Trust me: if I tell you, you'll be shitting bricks from here to Vermillion," said Brandon. "I'll tell you when the time comes, but for now, let's just focus on preparing to face Lisa, alright?"

Before Taylor could answer, the group was suddenly waylaid by a man holding a tape recorder up to Brandon's face - apparently a journalist. "Mr. Wells!" he said. "Jonathan Oakes, Kanto Times. Care to comment on the rumours surrounding your relationship with Emma Williams? Is it true that you got her pregnant?"

Brandon pulled a pained expression and closed his eyes, as though trying to make the journalist actually disappear. "Fucking hell," he muttered under his breath. "Even in a cave, I can’t get rid of them."

Emma took advantage of Brandon's frustration to answer in his stead. "I can confirm that I am currently pregnant with Brandon's child," she said, smiling sweetly.

The barrage of questions was now directed at Emma instead. "Do you know how far along you currently are?" asked Jonathan. "And are you planning to bring the baby to term?"

"We most certainly are," said Emma. "And I'm about six weeks gone."

With her mentor and his girlfriend now occupied by the interview, Taylor sighed and slunk off to train by herself. It didn't take her long to spot a Zubat hovering nearby. She plucked Eevee's Poké Ball from her belt, but before she could send it out, the Zubat was suddenly felled by a bolt of lightning that shot from nowhere.

A familiar-sounding voice then called out. "Nice job, Elekid!" it said. "Come back!"

Taylor soon realized who the voice was. It was Kieran Anderson, the boy she had met and battled when she first got Eevee. Sensing that they would make better company than Brandon and Emma at the moment, not to mention the potential opportunity for a battle, Taylor quickly headed over to them.

Upon seeing Taylor, Seth waved genially to her. "Oh, hey, Taylor!" he said. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here. I heard you already took down Graham."

"That I did," said Taylor. She pointed to the Venom Badge pinned onto her lapel.

"Well, so did I," said Kieran proudly, showing off his own Venom Badge. "I reckon my Elekid's already strong enough to trash Lisa's Gym, but Seth's making me train already."

"I told you," said Seth. "Type advantages are great, but they ain't everything. A truly great trainer can actually overcome type advantages. Like Brandon does every time he beats me." Taylor couldn't tell whether he was praising Brandon, belittling himself, or simply embittered at having lost to Brandon during their last encounter. "Anyway," he continued, "speaking of Brandon, where is he?"

Taylor's expression soured a little. "Some journalist cornered him and his girlfriend," she said, "they're busy doing an interview."

"Damn, the paps are even following them around in here?" said Seth. "I'm glad I don't have his level of fame, I couldn't put up with that bullshit. So is it true then? That he knocked up Nicole's little sister?"

Taylor nodded. "Apparently," she said.

Seth was unable to suppress a grin. "Oh, man, he is so dead," he said. "Nicole is gonna fucking kill him. She already find out?"

Taylor nodded again. "Yeah," she said. "She wasn't very happy about it."

"Oh man!" Seth was holding back a chuckle at this point. "I bet she wasn't! Did she try to set him on fire?"

"Tried to set us both on fire," said Taylor.

Seth's stifled chuckling abruptly stopped and he winced a little. "Ouch," he said. "Sorry to hear that. But… oh, man, I am so teasing him about this. Actually, I'll be right back. He's right over there, isn't he?" Seth pointed down the way Brandon had come.

"Yeah, he and Emma are over that way," said Taylor. "I dunno if they're still doing that interview, or… oh, no, here they come." Brandon and Emma were indeed on their way over, happily talking to each other. As far as Taylor could tell, they hadn't even noticed she had gone.

"Watch this, watch this," said Seth. With his grin once more firmly plastered across his face, Seth walked towards the lovestruck couple and began to sing "Cat's In The Cradle" at the top of his lungs. [For reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUwjNBjqR-c ]

Brandon facepalmed as he realized what was happening. "Oh, for fuck's sake," he said. "Could you… could you not, please, Seth-"

"Could you not swear in front of the baby, please?" joked Seth. "It shouldn't be hearing that kind of language at its age."

"It's a clump of cells at its age!" protested Brandon. "It can't hear shit!"

Seth did not relent with his jibes. "You're gonna name that clump of cells after me, right?" he asked. "'Seth Wells'… you gotta admit, it's got a ring to it-"

"Dude, just stop, please," said Brandon. "I'm not in the mood for your stupid jokes, alright? I'm still trying to get to grips with all this."

Seth, realizing he had pushed Brandon too far, raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, I'm sorry, man," he said. "It's just… damn! Of all the girls for you to knock up, it had to be Nicole's little sis, didn't it?"

"Tell me about it," said Brandon, shaking his head. "Oh, boy, was she ever pissed."

"I almost wish I coulda been there to see the look on her face," said Seth. "Probably looked something like this." Seth pulled a mock angry face which managed to elicit a laugh from his weary rival.

"Yeah, something like that," said Brandon. "Anyway, sorry about the disturbance there, Taylor," said Brandon, turning back to his protégé. "I tried to shake the guy off as quickly as I could, but Emma hasn't mastered the skill of ignoring journalists yet."

"But I want the world to know about us!" said Emma, looking cutely up at Brandon.

"Well, I don't want the world waiting outside my house at 5am to ask me the same questions a hundred times over," said Brandon. "Anyway, let's get back to what we came here for: training. Taylor, you ready to go?"

"Actually…" Taylor turned to Kieran, who had been staring expectantly at her for most of the time she had been there. "…you fancy a battle, Kieran?"

Kieran's expression immediately turned into an eager smile. "I thought you'd never ask," he said. "I've got a score to settle from last time!"

"We'll see about that," said Taylor. "Go, Eevee!"