***This chapter takes place in the Goldenrod City Hospital. (Yes, Goldenrod City has a hospital now. =D I mean, where do Pokémon trainers go when –they're- injured?! Not the Pokémon Center! ) Silver and Lance find out from Clair what happened up in Mt. Silver. ***

Mild Warning: foul language

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"Silver?"

I looked up from the outdated Pokémon Trainers Quarterly I was reading for the past hour.

"Yeah?" It was the doctor.

She smiled. "Clair is going to be fine. A few bruises here and there and a fractured knee. But she'll be okay. She's going to have to use crutches for a few weeks though. Can't walk if you can't bend your knees!" She said, writing away at her clipboard.

"Can't do other things either..." I muttered, coughing.

"What was that, Silver?"

"Nothing."

The doors flew open. It was Lance. His Dragonite was running right behind him, breaking the doors off the hinges.

All eyes in the lobby went on him.

"Clair!"

"Relax, doofus. She's fine. You can't just RUN in here, especially with Dragonite out like that." I pointed to the 'NO Pokémon allowed outside of their Poke balls.' sign. "This isn't the Pokeathalon. Don't you see the sign?"

"Everyone knows who I am around here. They make an exception." He pets his Dragonite smiling. "Dragonite can come anywhere with me."

I rolled my eyes. "Well aren't you special?"

"So, she's going to be okay? Thank you so much for going out of your way to bring her here.." He rubbed the back of my head and before he could stroke my hair, I slapped his hand away.

Gritting my teeth, I muttered "Don't. Not here."

Lance scoffed, remembering how much of a prick I am.

I'm not embarrassed about being with him. I just don't like public displays of affection. It's not my thing. If you're my girlfriend or boyfriend, we're not fucking touching in public. That's just the way I am. Also, don't ever touch my hair. I take great pride in brushing and giving it enough maintenance to keep it lustrous and intact. If you touch my hair, you're getting a bloody nose.

Two nurses came to the waiting room and approached the Doctor.

"The patient is waking up now. She can have visitors."

"Okay, good." The doctor turned around and noticed Lance.

"Hello Lance! You can see Clair now. She's awake."

"Ah, wonderful. Thanks Doctor." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Coming?"

WHAT DID I TELL HIM ABOUT TOUCHING ME IN PUBLIC?!

I didn't want to scream at him in a hospital of all places, so I kept my mouth closed, nodded and discretely pinched his underarm.

"AHHH..!" Lance hissed, rubbing his underarm. "You're lucky you're cute!"

"I'm not cute. 'Cute' is for girls. Don't call me cute. I prefer 'Extremely Attractive' "

Lance snickered. When Lance snickers, it sounds like one of those animated weasels on TV. It's kind of funny actually.

We took the elevator in Clair's room. Lance cares about his cousin. I don't. I just want to know what happened in Mt. Silver. Clearly she couldn't make it to Red. I bet she got slaughtered by some Pokémon!  How pathetic.

When we arrived to Room 402, we see Clair in her bed, flipping through channels on the small mounted tv. She turns to Lance and gasps.

"Lance..!"

Lance nodded. "How are you feeling now?"

Clair smiled. "Better than before…but look at my face!" She got teary eyed, placing her hands on her cheeks. "I can't go anywhere with my face looking like this!"

"Pssh…you shouldn't have gone anywhere with your face, period." I remarked, grinning.

"UGH! What are YOU doing here?!" The Clown of Blackthorn City yelled, pointing at me.

"Uhhh. For the record, I BROUGHT you here!" I stammered, crossing my arms. "Did you forget? Your crippled self should be kissing my feet right now, woman."

"Oh." Clair rubbed the back of her head. "I completely forgot. My apologies. Well, Silver. I really should thank you."

"It's nothing. Anyone would do the same."

Lance smiled. "This is great. I think you two actually might become civilized soon!"

"NO WAY!" Clair and I yelled in unison, turning away from each other.

He's crazy! I could never be civilized for more than five minutes with this clown. Clair and I have nothing but mutual hate.

"Or not…." He sighed, breaking a sweat.

"Enough of this sappy shit. Clair, what happened over there?" I said, pulling up a chair closer to Clair's bed.

Clair grabbed the mug off the table, took a sip of what looked like tea. She took a deep breath and spoke.

"I went up there with the purpose of training. The Dragons Den has been really full of trainers lately so I wanted to train where I could have a lot of room and strong Pokémon to take on."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Wait a minute. So you didn't go there to battle Red?"

"Why would I want to battle Red if I defeated him twice over the past few months? He's not challenging enough."

"Y-You're kidding me!"  I turned to Lance for verification.

Lance nodded at me. "She did. I was there with her."

"…Well. That's nothing. Red must be a piece of cake if he got defeated by the likes of you. You're not exactly strong you know. I mean, look at you now! All bruised up, with a black eye and broken knee!"
Lance stepped in front of me, frantically waving his hands and shaking his head implying not to throw a comeback.

Clair took another sip of her tea. "Tell me Silver. How many times have you defeated Red? Oh, that's right. Zero."

I felt my blood pressure rise. I hope she spills that tea over herself and suffers from third degree burns.  This bitch! I never defeated Red because I never challenged him to begin with! I DARE you to ask me that again when I have Red in a psychiatric ward and his Pokémon in a fucking COMA, you TWAT!

Lance sighed, rubbing his temple. "Clair, enough. Go on with what happened."

His Dragonite noticed Clair's cup nearly empty. It grabbed the kettle from the table across the bed and poured her more tea.

"Thanks buddy.." She nodded. "Okay, so I was training halfway to the top of the mountain. When suddenly a mob, not just one Pokémon but a –mob- of Pokémon surrounded Dragonite and I. They didn't look normal. They had glowing red eyes and were frothing at the mouth. They also had a black aura emitting from their bodies. It was so bizarre. I never saw anything like it before. I thought they just wanted to attack Dragonite. But they attacked me as well! I had to play dead for over an hour for them not to kill me! It wasn't until they left when I finally got up and limped my way out of the mountain. As for Dragonite, she was pulverized, bleeding and covered in rocks. It was awful.."

"Red eyes, froth and an aura? That sounds suspicious." Lance replied.

"Seen it all." I fibbed. "Probably Rockets' fuckery."

"I doubt it. What would Team Rocket want with anything in Mt. Silver?" Lance objected.

I gave off a shrug. "Well. That's all I needed to know. Now I can rest assured it's nothing to worry about." I got up from the chair and pushed it over to Lance. "I'm off."

"What? You're still going?" Clair gasped.

"Of course. Why should I be afraid of some rabid Pokémon? My invincible and tenacious team will demolish those wretched creatures!"

She cringed, tugging at Lance's arm. "Lance. Stop him. Please."

I turned around and pointed at Lance. "If you try to stop me, You'll have a hospital bed of your own."

Lance looked a bit unsure over whom to listen to. "......"

"Back off." With that said,I walked out of the room with my head held up high, determined to prove to everyone that I am far from weak. I am strong. Stronger than Lance, Clair, the Elite Four, Red AND Giovanni.

(TO BE CONTINUED)