True Grit || Silver / Clair
The Desert Resort was less of a resort and more of a barren wasteland speckled with curious, annoying tourists. Once again finding herself in a place far out of her comfort zone, Clair grumbled at her grandfather’s uncanny ability to make her do whatever he wanted. And who would have guessed that, at his casual suggestion, that she’d take not only her Trapinch, but also the ever-glamorous Feathers for a fantastic rendezvous into the Unova region! Clair frowned at the recollection.
Choosing not to reflect further on her grandfather’s hidden agenda, the Gym Leader walked up the sandy staircase that led into the main room. When she’d last left her two Pokemon, Feathers was preening in the middle of the room, and Trapinch was… doing whatever it was that she liked doing. But instead of a normal scene, what she found was something that was becoming a common occurrence in her life.
Half-buried in the sand, Feather’s tufted tail waggled as she tried to free herself from her gritty captor. Muffled, but still incredibly noisy, her squawks were like a fire alarm. Clair sighed loudly, rolling her head back until she was staring at the ceiling. Great. Just great. She was by the Archen’s side in moments, and when her hands clasped around the bird’s sides, she plucked her from the sandpit. Feathers cawed irritably, beating her wings against Clair’s hands to be let go. She dropped the Pokemon immediately.
Feathers tumbled to the floor with another squawk, but she would not be deterred from cleaning herself from debris. Clair rolled her eyes. What a priss! Something that sounded like shoes dragging against sandy stone prevented Clair from finding her mischievous Trapinch and instead face the source of the noise. Covered head-to-toe in sand, a boy sat slumped against the weathered wall, his attention focused on anything but her and her Pokemon. But there was something in his features that irked her. Frowning, the Gym Leader walked stiff-legged to the boy until she stood inches from his outstretched leg.
He moved from her only just, but Clair didn’t care about his comfort. Squatting until she was eye-level with him, she stared at his face. Something about that long hair, that face, the way his brows seemed always furrowed… there was no mistaking it. It was that kid who beat her several years ago. Silver. "Well, well. Look what the Meowth brought in."
He only had a few moments of sweet relief before the next annoyance was at his door. Or in this case, at his foot, as a woman decided she needed to stand obnoxiously close to him for some reason. He moved his foot away from her, but she apparently took that as an invitation to get even closer, right up to his face almost. It was unpleasant, to say the least, seeing as all he wanted to do right now was cool down a bit. But instead it would seem that he would have to entertain her curiosity.
And then she addressed him, like she knew exactly who she was. Silver searched his mind for a moment before catching sight of her cape. Only a few people were obnoxious enough to actually wear one of those things around. And since she obviously wasn’t Lance, that left one other possibility.
His thoughts reeled back to the time that he had come across this particular individual. She was none other than the holder of the 8th gym badge of Johto, Clair, the supposed dragon master. She was haughty, arrogant, and quick to anger, but he couldn’t deny that she was a strong opponent. Not strong enough to beat him though, as he had walked away from the encounter victorious. Her badge still hung from the inside of his jacket as proof of that fact.
“Hmph, well if it isn’t the so called dragon master? What brings you out to this lovely establishment?” He couldn’t help but to chide her a little knowing that he already had the upper hand in the exchange, which actually helped to brighten his mood, even if only slightly.
While the two exchanged their pleasantries, Silver’s Larvitar wandered over to the noisy bird in the middle of the chamber, his curiosity getting the better of him. The Archen was still preening and paid the small rock type no attention, so slowly but surely Larvitar inched its way towards the bird until finally offering up a small “Larvi!” as a greeting to the fossil pokemon.
