[ lance shakes his head slightly, with half a laugh, as blue leaves the conversation as quickly as he crashed it. and he turns his attention back to raihan, shrugging his shoulders a little. ]

He is a good kid.

[ as if that needs . . . explaining. which, you know, it probably does, as blue is three drinks deep and unnecessarily bartending. blue oak can be a lot, but it seems like raihan can deal with his nonsense just fine.

. . . at any rate, he sips his drink. ]

But in all seriousness, I do look forward to your challenge.

[ warmly, with a slight inclination of his head toward dragonite, who huffs him agreement. ]

I don't get the opportunity to battle many Dragon users, in Kanto or Johto. The only ones who really master the art are in Blackthorn, and I'm afraid I've run out of options, there.

[ also, clair just gets pissed when he wins. ]

And, as you can imagine, not very many people make it to the Plateau itself. A good challenge is hard to come by; I trust you'll give me one.