Second Best (Clair story)
Freckles
Member
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2025
- Messages
- 50
- Reaction score
- 91
- Pronouns
- She/Her
- MATURE Themes
- No MATURE Themes Apply
- TEEN Themes
- No TEEN Themes Apply
- EVERYONE Themes
- No EVERYONE Themes Apply
- Other Content Warnings
- contains slight self-worth angst
probably best to make one thread for all my possible writings (or at least oneshots) rather than make a new thread for each one
I hope I understood everything right rules-wise
please no "reviews"
Second Best
Content Warnings: self-worth angst
Notes: inspired by Viridian Beedrill's The Very Best
Clair walked the hall of her ancestors.
Everywhere around her were paintings and statues of the previous clan masters and gym leaders. Men and women of glory, each one the best dragon tamer of their generation.
She was surrounded by greatness.
The portraits had the richest paints upon the finest canvas, the statues were made out of the rarest woods. All created by the greatest artists of their time, provided with the best tools. Her clan had never spared any expense to celebrate their shiniest stars.
Only the best for the best.
Clair sighed.
Yes… Only the best.
She walked to the empty part of the hall. Meant for the future dragon tamers.
Clair glanced towards where her grandfather, current clan master, would be celebrated and remembered. Then she looked a little farther, where the next greatest dragon tamer of their generation—her generation, right now—would be much later on.
She sighed again. Her eyes stung a little.
There was another generation between those two. Her parents. His parents, too. But they wouldn't be there. They didn't belong, because the clan's hall of ancestors was for...
"Only the best," she said softly.
All the names here were written with the finest ink too, naturally. Her parents' names wouldn't be there. They wouldn't be remembered… or would be, at absolute best, footnotes in the meaningless minutia of archives.
And just who were you, if your name wasn't even worth remembering?
Yes, she was the gym leader. Surely that should be enough to not be forgotten? To be more than no one at all?
Clair was glad to be alone here. No one could see the tear running down her cheek.
But who would remember Clair of the Blackthorn Gym when her cousin became the one and only Champion instead? When the only reason she led the Gym in the first place was precisely because Lance shone brighter than her?
Her clan had made it clear. The world had made it clear. There was no place for second place.
You were the best or you were no one.
Clair only realized she'd tightened her hand into a fist when she felt the pain of punching the wall. Where her generation's portrait would be.
Where Lance's portrait would be.
Because she'd always be second best.
I hope I understood everything right rules-wise
please no "reviews"
Second Best
Content Warnings: self-worth angst
Notes: inspired by Viridian Beedrill's The Very Best
Clair walked the hall of her ancestors.
Everywhere around her were paintings and statues of the previous clan masters and gym leaders. Men and women of glory, each one the best dragon tamer of their generation.
She was surrounded by greatness.
The portraits had the richest paints upon the finest canvas, the statues were made out of the rarest woods. All created by the greatest artists of their time, provided with the best tools. Her clan had never spared any expense to celebrate their shiniest stars.
Only the best for the best.
Clair sighed.
Yes… Only the best.
She walked to the empty part of the hall. Meant for the future dragon tamers.
Clair glanced towards where her grandfather, current clan master, would be celebrated and remembered. Then she looked a little farther, where the next greatest dragon tamer of their generation—her generation, right now—would be much later on.
She sighed again. Her eyes stung a little.
There was another generation between those two. Her parents. His parents, too. But they wouldn't be there. They didn't belong, because the clan's hall of ancestors was for...
"Only the best," she said softly.
All the names here were written with the finest ink too, naturally. Her parents' names wouldn't be there. They wouldn't be remembered… or would be, at absolute best, footnotes in the meaningless minutia of archives.
And just who were you, if your name wasn't even worth remembering?
Yes, she was the gym leader. Surely that should be enough to not be forgotten? To be more than no one at all?
Clair was glad to be alone here. No one could see the tear running down her cheek.
But who would remember Clair of the Blackthorn Gym when her cousin became the one and only Champion instead? When the only reason she led the Gym in the first place was precisely because Lance shone brighter than her?
Her clan had made it clear. The world had made it clear. There was no place for second place.
You were the best or you were no one.
Clair only realized she'd tightened her hand into a fist when she felt the pain of punching the wall. Where her generation's portrait would be.
Where Lance's portrait would be.
Because she'd always be second best.
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