A/N: Written for MintColaNihil as a (another) late birthday present. Also written for the Indigo League Challenge, Route 2 task with Squirtle as my starter. A drabble of exactly 200 words.
Clair: The (almost) Dragon Master
The soft scratching of waves on rocky cavern filled her ears, sometimes permeated by the whistling breeze beyond those walls – a reminder of the larger, less controlled, world that existed there. But the caverns were in her grasp: she who had trained for an eternity within those confines to become a Dragon Master.
And she would spend an eternity longer overcoming the final hurdles that prevented her, those masters of the Shrine who refused to acknowledge her, and the Champion she could not seem to defeat. Or perhaps it was her pride she could not defeat.
'You could have better,' he said to her, whenever they met. 'You've already beaten my Elite Four.'
But she refused, returning to the caverns that loomed behind her Gym, and the burning floors she had crafted. It wasn't for the challengers; no challenger had earned her badge since she took the mantle off the shelf. But her own wounded pride prevented her from accepting the hand offered to her, and the caverns she had spent a lifetime within and crafted her were good enough.
After all, he had grown within those same worlds, with those same sounds defining his world.
'One day you'll understand…'