I'm Clair. I'm the Gym Leader in Blackthorn, a member of the Blackthorn Dragon Clan, and the best dragon master in the world.
If you have something to say, my ask box is open.
My team:
Asterope (kingdra)
Matcha (shiny dragonite)
Ryoko (charizard/garchomp hybrid)
Zaffre (druddigon)
Cobalt (baxcalibur)
Heliotrope (dragalge)
Original Content | Reblogs | Answered Asks | Pictures | Pelipper Mail
Event: Dragon Care
//howdy. this blog is set post-soul silver in which ethan was the protagonist and caught lugia. there is a large degree of canon divergence in that blog, but for this one, soul silver happened very close to game canon. this blog does not share a continuity with any other pokémon irl blog other than the ones i run.
//this blog is headcanon-heavy about things like sapient pokémon, pokémon variants, and pokémon crossbreeds. for example, clair's charizard is a non-mega fire/dragon garchomp crossbreed.
//magic anons are off; pelipper mail is on for things that can reasonably be sent via mail. if you're unsure, feel free to dm me. pelipper mail responses will be written ooc as prose. anyone can interact, including sapient pokémon, but please bear in mind this blog is low-stakes when sending asks.
//if you want to set up a story beat/event, want to check to see if an ask is okay to send, just want more info, or would like something tw tagged, feel free to dm me.
//this character is an adult and sometimes discusses adult topics. if you don't want to see this content, block the tags "tw sex mention", "tw dick joke", and "suggestive".
Hey, so, you've mentioned before that gym leader Whitney got fired. Could you elaborate on that? What happened and why?
For the whole Goldenrod Radio Tower incident with the Rocket Revival. Team Rocket waltzes into her town, takes over her radio tower, and she does jack shit about it. Getting fired was the least she deserved. I think she should've been locked up with the rest of them.
My personal theory — and one that's not uncommon — is that they paid her off. TR always had a lot of money, even during their pathetic little death rattle in Johto. And why else would she have thrown her career away by doing nothing? She left a pair of teenagers (Kris and me) to do the local gym leader's job! Against Team fucking Rocket!
A much more sympathetic angle is that she was just scared. Sure, plenty of people were scared of TR. It's hard to see why, especially because she was a gym leader, but sure, whatever.
But that doesn't explain why she didn't call anyone. She could've called Lance, she could've called the next Gym Leader over, literally anything. It's not like she couldn't. It would've made Lance's day to go knock some heads, Hyper Beam people into oblivion, throw executives out windows, etc. He lives for that shit.
The worst part is there's no concrete proof that Whitney was paid off, so nothing fucking came of it. She just got fired. And believe me, I looked.
She even moved to a different region. I've thought about tracking her down and getting it out of her myself, but I'm told this is "way too stalkerish for a hunch" and "probably highly illegal".
Whatever. At least she's not in the League anymore.
It wouldn't be fair to all the normal trainers in Galar to try to convince Red not to go to the next PWT there. It would not be fair. It would not be fair.
It wouldn't be fair to all the normal trainers in Galar to try to convince Red not to go to the next PWT there. It would not be fair. It would not be fair.
We're a normal Blackthorn family. Three of my grandparents and one of my great aunts are still alive. I have three uncles, two aunts, and Gabby. Those six people have four kids between them, so that's four cousins, and one of my cousins recently had a baby who takes up all the attention at family gatherings, which is fine with me.
I don't know what you want me to tell you about them. They're all fine people.
//thank you! i'm so sorry i haven't been active here (or on any of my other pokémon irl blogs...) much recently... the last couple of months have kind of been tough on me irl-wise.
//but thank you for letting me know :) i hope you enjoy the content i do have as well as the way i write clair, and if you have any prompts or questions for her, please feel free to send them in! i'll get to them as soon as i can!
//been itching to write clair again, so let's plan an event!
//when we hit 100 followers, what is the event you would like to see?
guest appearance by ethan
ōkaneku family reunion
clair challenges the league
Voting ended onMay 27, 2025
//descriptions under the cut.
guest appearance by ethan: the protagonist of this canon's version of soul silver becomes available to take questions for the day. ask him about the events that took place and how he handled them--there is some canon divergence! or just ask him about his team, his relationships, why he's friends with clair, etc.
ōkaneku family reunion: clair posts through a family reunion, talking about her family members, their pokémon, and their history. lance will be there for the drama of it all. will include an illustration at the end of the event.
clair challenges the league: exactly what it says. clair and her team take on the elite four and champion ethan. will she win or lose? will include an illustration at the end of the event.
//Maya explores around Casseroya Lake fairly often on the weekends and a lot of the pokemon are chill with her. So sometimes she's sitting down having a little picnic and a pokemon shows up to investigate! So now and then Clair will just get
But it's a Tatsugiri that wants her damn sandwich.
Hey dragon master! I can't say I'm a dragon enthusiast per se but I have a couple on my team, and one of my friends is a proper dragon trainer herself. I was just wondering, as someone who's trained a Hydreigon with some... behavioral issues, let's say, have you ever trained or cared for a dragon that was "difficult" as it were? ( @ace-trainer-jay )
Yes. Ryoko, even when she was young, was a challenge to train. In case you're unaware, she is a charizard/garchomp hybrid with fire/dragon typing. The charmader line are very high-energy and the gible line are very social, and as a result Ryoko required a lot of attention.
Another issue compounding this was the fact that, as a hybrid, her biology is completely unique. After I caught her I spent a lot of time at a pokémon center and talking to a specialist to ascertain certain things (what she could safely eat being most important, as garchomp and charizard have different dietary needs).
In my experience, the key to dealing with behavioral issues is patience. If you get angry with your pokémon, they'll learn to fear you rather than listen, and that can cause further problems or, with a wild caught pokémon, potential harm to you or others. You shouldn't be trying to dominate a pokémon to get it to listen; you should be encouraging it with friendship. They should want to listen to you. A pokémon not being interested isn't a moral failing--sometimes a pokémon simply doesn't want or isn't ready for a partner.
How do you fly on Ryoko, exactly? What's your saddle setup like? How do you give directional commands in the air; do reins work? I assume riding bareback on her is dangerous, is that true?
Ryoko's saddle is made of a combination of flame resistant cloth and leather. Because of her unique hybrid anatomy, I have to use a unique saddle--it was custom made by a leatherworker here in Blackthorn.
One strap loops around the base of her tail, another around her neck--this does not hurt her, by the way; her neck muscles are strong enough that significantly more pressure would have to be applied to cause her trouble breathing. The main part of the saddle is in two sections and fastens together on either side of her dorsal fin. There are seats ahead of the dorsal fin and behind it, in case I need to travel with a passenger.
Normally, a dragon's saddle would have straps crossing their chest in a Y shape that connects to another strap (or two) looping around their belly, like a horse's saddle. Ryoko's patagium gets in the way of this, hence the unique saddle construction.
As for directing her, reins do work, though I prefer simply leaning to one side or another. She can sense the shift in my weight on her back and is well trained enough to know what I want her to do from that change. On a different dragon, you could use other physical commands such as pressing their sides with your heels or touching their back or neck, but because of the thickness of Ryoko's saddle and the danger of skin to scale contact, we have to make due with another option.
Which brings us to: yes, it is extremely dangerous to ride bareback on charizard and most charizard hybrids, Ryoko included. Their body temperature tends to be very high, especially when breathing fire. Extended contact with a charizard's scales can cause severe burns.
If you have a charizard, pay attention to the air surrounding them; a heat haze means they are likely too hot to touch, and blue tail flames are extremely hot as well.
Have you ridden any dragons besides Ryoko? If so, how is it different?
I've ridden multiple dragons. Of my own, Matcha can also be ridden, and I do sometimes use her instead of Ryoko. It depends on what kind of flight we're doing.
To compare the two... Matcha's flight is smoother and slower, because technically speaking, Matcha can't fly. She floats. Ryoko's flight is much faster and a little more rough, and of course because she's a charizard hybrid, we use protective gear so I don't burn myself on her skin.
Their saddles are obviously constructed differently due to different anatomy; Ryoko has a large dorsal fin to navigate around. I sit in front of her dorsal fin, almost on her shoulders, whereas on Matcha I sit behind her wings.