The following morning, Brandon arrived at Taylor's house as
usual to resume training, but this time he had Emma in tow. "She insisted
on coming along with us," said Brandon. "I figured, if we're gonna
end up getting married or whatever like Nicole wants us to, I'd better start
getting to know her, right? So I hope you don't mind."
"No, not at all," said Taylor. "To be
honest, I'm glad you're doing the right thing and supporting her."
"Well, it's not like I have a choice, is it?"
said Brandon. "If I don't, Nicole will turn me into smoked Tepig."
"True," admitted Taylor. "So anyway, where
are we headed today?"
"Next Gym Leader on the trail is Lisa Rivers," said
Brandon. "She's the Cerulean City Gym Leader, and she uses Water-type Pokémon.
She's a veteran like Graham, she's been a Gym Leader for years, but she's not as
outspoken as he is. She'll prefer to just focus on the battle. You won't have a
type advantage this time, unless we're lucky enough to run into a Paras in Mt.
Moon, so things might get a little more difficult for you."
"I'm sure I can handle it," said Taylor. "If
it comes to it, we can always look for a Grass-type Pokémon somewhere else,
right?"
"If it really
comes to it, I can just lend you one of mine," said Brandon, "or get
Ellen to breed you one. But there'd be no challenge in it if I just gave you Pokémon
all the time. I'd rather you tried to get through it with your own skill first.
You get what I mean?"
"Yeah, I got it," said Taylor, nodding.
"I'd rather get through it with my own skill as well."
"That's good," said Brandon. "Alright
then, let's get going. I think Emma's starting to get a little bored."
Emma did indeed look a little bored as Brandon took out
the Poké Ball containing Charizard. Perhaps it was Taylor's imagination, but
she also seemed a tiny bit jealous as well. It was perhaps understandable:
Brandon had ignoring his supposed fiancée up until now, having been talking to his
protégé instead the whole time they had been here. But Taylor, somehow, didn't
think it was entirely reasonable. They had already established that Brandon had
no feelings for her, not to mention she was underage. Then again, Taylor got
the feeling that Brandon didn't really love Emma all that much either. If it
wasn't for Nicole calling him back to Viridian, he would most likely have
forgotten all about her.
As Charizard emerged from its Poké Ball, a thought
occurred to Taylor. "Are all three of us gonna fit on there?" she
asked.
"Uhh… good point," said Brandon. "No, I
don't think we will. You won't be able to fly by yourself, will you,
Taylor?"
Taylor shook her head. "Nope," she said. "And
I'm still a little rattled from the previous times I've flown with you."
"And I can't fly with you, because that would mean
leaving Emma all by herself…" Brandon thought aloud. "Hmm… Emma, do
you have any Flying-types?"
"I have a Crobat," said Emma, plucking a Poké
Ball from her belt.
"Great," said Brandon. "I'll fly on that,
and you can fly Taylor there on Charizard."
"But I wanna fly there with you!" protested Emma, pouting cutely.
"Sorry," said Brandon, "but Taylor can't
fly on her own. She needs someone to go with her, and you'd only complain if I
went with her." This seemed to confirm Taylor's suspicions: Emma was, to
some degree, irrationally jealous of her.
Emma did not refute Brandon's statement, instead merely
sighing in resignation. "I guess it can't be helped, then," she said.
"I mean, it's not like we're not going to the same place…"
"Yeah, we'll only be apart for, like, twenty
minutes, or however long it takes to get to Mt. Moon," said Brandon,
gently patting her head. "No biggie."
"Alright then," said Emma. "I guess I'll
see you in a bit." She leaned up and gave Brandon a goodbye kiss on the
lips, then climbed onto the back of Charizard.
Taylor climbed on behind her, still a little uneasy about
flying. "You sure you know what you're doing?" she asked Emma.
"This isn't the first time I've flown," she
said. "Just relax, everything will be fine."
"Just… no racing, okay?" said Taylor. "I
couldn't take another race."
"Don't worry, Taylor," said Brandon
reassuringly, "no races today. We're just gonna fly to Mt. Moon at our own
pace. Emma, make sure to take it easy, alright?"
Emma nodded. "Will do," she said.
Brandon took off first, and as he and Crobat lifted off
into the sky, Taylor suddenly got the uneasy feeling that Emma was not going to
take it easy at all. Sure enough, Charizard suddenly lifted off hard, soaring
high into the sky as it raced to catch up to Crobat. Taylor clung tightly onto
Emma, grimacing as the uncomfortable sensation of the cold wind whipping at her
face returned once more. Even if the flight to Mt. Moon was only twenty minutes
as Brandon had said, this was still going to be a long ride.
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