"Um," he said uncomfortably. At first, his eyes were on Clair's back as she stalked away in anger. But they soon began to wander, looking anywhere other than at Lyra's face.
Lyra didn't respond immediately. She was dwelling on the performance that she'd just seen Silver give in their most recent battle – as tag partners. It had definitely been a shock to see that he and his Golbat had finally bonded enough for it to evolve, but the way he acted…it was like she was standing next to an entirely different person. This new Silver hadn't pushed his Pokémon too far, hadn't criticized them when they lost, hadn't made wild accusations about his opponents' weaknesses.
Of course, he still hadn't been much of a tag partner; Lance had squashed his team like bugs, and it had been up to Lyra to win in the end. But still…
"Lyra?" Silver said, louder this time. She returned her attention to him; he was now staring at his boots as if he'd never seen them before in his life.
"Yes?" Figuring it would be easier on him if she pretended she was preoccupied with something else, she focused on healing her Pokémon. She knew that there was a Pokémon Center in Blackthorn City, but her Arcanine looked exhausted and she didn't want to make him wait.
"I just wanted to say…well, I'm sorry about the incident, you know, in the Radio Tower. You remember," he said warily, obviously worried that she was still embarrassed about their strange encounter.
"It's fine," said Lyra, and she meant it. Even though that Rocket grunt had said some pretty nasty things, even though she'd been mortified at the time, she figured that Silver hadn't meant her any harm. Even though she sometimes wondered what Ethan would have done, if it had happened to him.
She turned back to her rival and looked him in the eye. "Silver…I'm proud of you. You've changed so much from when we met in New Bark Town." When you punched me in New Bark Town.
His apologetic demeanor was immediately replaced by indignation. "Don't patronize me!" he growled. "I'm going to be the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world – remember that!"
He turned to leave, but she grabbed his shoulder. "Wait!"
"What?"
"I want to know something. Why didn't you accept Clair as your partner?"
Silver didn't speak for a moment. Then, as he turned away again, he replied, "You heard me before. Clair dresses like a freak. Besides, she's got to be the only person in Johto more annoying than you are."
Lyra let him go this time. But as she watched him leave, he shouted, "I can hear you smiling!" She guiltily tried to straighten out her face before she offended him again.
It didn't work.