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The New Normal - 7-8 - Interlude - Clair
🕑 Added 2023-12-20 07:00:05 +0000 UTCThe New Normal – 7-8 – Interlude – Clair
Clair stormed into Lance’s office, ignoring the concerned looks of the security guards that let her through. She had visited Lance’s office enough that they didn’t need to verify who she was any more.
Although this time she was considerably more aggravated.
“Did you see this?!” She demanded at her cousin as she threw a newspaper in front of him. But as she did so, she saw the many bags that rested heavily below her cousin’s tired eyes. The man looked exhausted.
“What now?!” He asked irritably, causing Clair to feel bad about simply barging in. He must have been busier than he expected.
She softened her tone considerably, “The claims that the Fairy type is immune and supereffective against Dragons. It’s making us look weak.” Clair had been completely taken aback by the revelation of the Fairy type, and it took her quite a while to actually accept what was happening.
A type that supposedly shut down Dragons? Her pride as a Blackthorn didn’t allow it.
“And what do you want me to do about it?” Lance asked, annoyance leaking out of his voice, “I’ve already got more shit piled on my plate. What more do you need for me?!”
Well, Clair felt even worse now, but she had a message to deliver. She took a letter out of her pocket and handed it over to him.
She watched as Lance’s tired eyes roamed sleepily across the letter, only for him to grow angrier as he continued to read. By the time he finished, he had already shot up from his desk, his tiredness long forgotten.
“What. The fuck. Is this?!” He demanded to Clair, fury blazing in his eyes.
“It’s the official word from the Blackthorn elders. They want us to challenge the research.” She explained hesitantly, realizing that this wasn’t going to go well.
As expected, her words only served to further infuriate Lance as he slammed a fist on his desk, nearly knocking over the pile of paperwork. “Those fucking idiots. This is not something that can be disproved like that! What the fuck are they even thinking!?”
“You don’t think that Oak was overplaying this?” She voiced, before wincing as soon as Lance’s furious eyes were turned to her.
“Are you insane?! Or did you not see who was on that list of researchers for this? Practically every big name in Indigo was involved, and you want the Blackthorns to be OPPOSED to this!?” Lance shook his head, “Absolutely not. I’m not going to join them in their idiotic death pact.”
Clair knew that wasn’t to go over well with the rest of the clan, but she knew she wasn’t going to be able to change Lance’s mind at the moment. “Then what are you going to do?” She instead asked.
“Nothing. I’m not going to do anything.” Lance said as he sat down again, “I’m not some junior for the elders of the clan to order around anymore.” He raised the letter close to face, “Do you realize how bad it’d look if the Champion questioned something like this, only to be proven wrong later? It’d be a huge scandal, ESPECIALLY trying to go against someone like Champion Oak.”
“I’m not going to do something so stupid, so if the elders want to continue on this course of action, I’ll have nothing to do with it.” He said with finality.
Clair frowned, “Why aren’t you angrier at this? I thought the existence of a type that counters Dragons would infuriate you.”
Lance looked at her oddly, “Why would it? I mean I was shocked, sure, but I wouldn’t be angry about it. It’s just something else that our Dragons need to overcome.”
“But wouldn’t we look weak?!” Clair demanded, but Lance only snorted.
“If you really think that some newbie Fairy trainer is going to be able to defeat my team – then you really don’t know me as well as you think you do.” Lance shook his head, “No, a simple immunity against Dragon types is not going to be enough to defeat me. I’ll make sure of it.” He said the last part with utter certainty and conviction, as if daring the world to contradict him.
“They may not be able to beat YOU, but they could beat ME!” Clair shouted, voicing her true concerns all along. She was not particularly worried for her cousin, she knew he was more than strong enough, but she was worried that her position as the ‘strongest’ amongst the Johto Gym Leaders would be at risk because of this new revelation.
But if she was expecting sympathy from Lance, then she guessed wrongly. “So? Did you just come to my office to whine about it and to deliver a message that could have been done by literally any other messenger? If you’re going to waste your time on something like this, then you could get use that time to train.”
Clair winced and frowned at his words, her pride warring with her rational mind. She knew he was correct, but her pride was struggling to adapt to the fact that the Dragon type might not be the most powerful type in the world anymore.
Luckily, perhaps taking pity on her, Lance softened his tone, “There’s no point preparing against something that you don’t know about. Do research about the Fairy type, see what they’re strong and weak against, and plan around that. Everything has a weakness; it’s just about finding and exploiting it.”
“Besides, it’s not like the Fairy type is something new – it had always existed, but we just never knew about it. Nothing has changed now that the type is now properly revealed and documented.” Lance added.
“Don’t let your pride blind you. Right now, everyone’s frantically trying to discover the secrets and strengths of the Fairy type. We’re all in the same boat.” He explained calmly, “And now, everyone’s thinking that Fairy types are going to be the big counter to Dragon types. So do everything you can to prove them wrong. Crush all that would dare challenge your supremacy. THAT is what you should be doing.”
“A Dragon does not whine. It destroys all in its path.” Lance reminded her.
Clair nodded, suitably chastised yet enlightened, before getting out of her seat. He was right. Getting angry about hurt pride wouldn’t accomplish anything. With the new Fairy reveal, there would be many an ambitious trainer looking to smash through her Gym using the new and powerful Fairy types.
But she vowed to not be an easy wall for them to break through.
As she left, she shot Lance one final look of gratitude, only to find him glaring down at the letter that she had given him as if he was trying to burn a hole into it.
Clair held back the urge to gulp. A reckoning was coming.
A.N. Some foreshadowing about future events here! And I hope you like my interactions between Lance and Clair! Hope I showed off why Clair is only a Gym Leader, whereas Lance is Champion. It has more to do than just their Pokémon!
This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Thanks!
Comments
Galen Tanner
I love this chapter it really showcases lances stance on the mater and how stuck in the mud elders are
Bored Peasant
Oooh, I could see a dragon using member of Blackthorn trying to cause problems and launching dragon type attacks at other pokemon, then John using Sylveon to quick attack in front of the dragon-type attack to negate it, while using another pokemon, like Clefable, to launch fairy-type attacks at the dragon. Then we get to see all of the Blackthorn elders freak out about how easy it was for fairy-type to counter dragons, while at the same time forcing them to accept the fairy as a legit pokemon.
