Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I make no money or profit from this.

Chapter 12

[Route 4]

The group were about a day away from Cerulean City, however Lynn was taking them on a detour to a small town that was slightly out of the way. The reason was because she heard from passing trainers about a festival being held there. Lynn told her 2 students they were going to check it out, regardless how they felt about it. Clyde was excited and couldn't wait to see what it was like. Ronnie Anne on the other hand complained, but knew she wasn't going to and settled for having a sour expression on her face.

"I just don't understand why we're going to this festival instead of heading straight to Cerulean City" the younger girl complained with her arms crossed. "I mean aren't we on a time limit? Shouldn't we just keep heading towards every gym?"

"It's not going to take us ten months to reach eight gyms" Lynn started to reply with a chuckle. "Besides, I want to show you the joys of taking detours on your journey like Linc taught me." This caught both of the younger teens' attention. "On my first journey, all I wanted to do was make it to the next gym to go for my next badge. Linc however took me to all these different festivals, sights, and tourist destinations I would've missed if we just headed to the next gym. So since I'm mentoring you two, I feel it's my job to teach you the same. Especially if you plan to continue being a trainer after this season."

Both teens started to ponder on what they just heard. While they just started this journey not too long ago, they haven't really thought about once this journey ends. While they have more important and current things to worry about, they know the journey will end faster than they think.

'Will I continue doing this?' Clyde asks himself. 'I started this in hopes of making up with Lincoln, but what if I don't see him until the tournament. Will going through this be enough to show him I'm sorry for what I did?'

'I thought this was going to be easy and I would spend time with Lincoln' Ronnie Anne thought to herself. 'Now I know being a trainer is a lot of hard work and demanding. Taking care of not only yourself, but also your Pokemon. Long days traveling through the wilderness, sleeping in a tent, and cooking your own meals. Do I want to continue this?'

Lynn looked back at her 2 companions and could see them deep in thought. This brought a small smile to her face, it seems like what she said to them got through. "Besides these festivals are always fun to go to," she said, breaking them out of their thoughts and regaining their attention. "There might be some food stands and games, at the very least it will be something you two do get to experience very often, if at all."

"Well maybe it won't be so bad" Ronnie Anne admitted quietly, while looking away.

"I take back what I said!" Ronnie Anne shouted with a frown and arms crossed. Not too long after arriving at the festival, Lynn made them a deal. She would pay for their food and a few souvenirs for them, but they would have to do one request of her. She wasn't going to tell them what it was and they had to do it no matter how much they didn't want to. With a bit of hesitation both agreed, which led to current events that had the young girl in another sour mood. The request was that they had to wear Kimonos or Yukatas she bought while attending the festival. As of right now Ronnie was wearing a plain purple kimono.

"Of quit complaining and have some fun" Lynn said from beside her, taking pictures with her poketech. She was wearing a bright red kimono with a cherry blossom design, she had returned Lycanroc to his ball from the time being. She was planning on giving these photos to Ronnie Anne's mother to make up for her past slip up. "You're acting like I had you do something horrible. This is a small price to considering I'm paying for your food and souvenirs to send to your families."

"She got a point" Clyde spoke up from Ronnie Anne's other side. He was wearing a plain navy blue yukata. "It's not like she's making you wear a frilly dress or anything. She didn't even force you to wear makeup or get your hair done up."

"I know, but still" she started to complain while gesturing to everyone around them. "We are one of the few that are dressed up." Which was true as a majority of the people at the festival were in casual clothing, with the few wearing kimonos or yukatas. "We look out of place."

"It's all in your head" Lynn said dismissively to her. "Now come on, let's see what this festival has to offer." Both followed the older girl, curious to see how different this festival was to ones back home.

So for the next few hours the 3 trainers enjoyed the festival. Trying new and different foods, playing a few games, and talking to a couple of trainers they met there. As for souvenirs, Clyde got a small wooden carving of a Bonsly and Bellossom for his dads. Ronnie got a small wooden carving of Arcanine, a Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle mask, and a kimono for her mother and Carlotta. They also watch the elderly man who sold them the wood carving work on one for a bit. All 3 had a friendly Pokemon battle with the trainers they met there, both Ronnie Anne and Clyde had trouble using their new Pokemon but won while Lynn easily beat her opponent using Lycanroc. They did encounter a small issue when they walked past an older man. The man was trying to sell Clyde a Magikarp for 10,000 pokedollars, claiming it was a special and rare Magikarp. He even claimed he would throw in a solid gold pokeball if he bought the Magikarp. However Clyde didn't fall for the con-artist lies, when it looked like he wasn't going to stop pestering him, Lynn brought out Lycanroc which made him back off. All the while Lynn was taking pictures of the 2 to send back to their families.

As the sun was starting to set, the group was thinking it was about to leave and find a place to camp for the night. Ronnie Anne and Clyde were waiting on a bench for Lynn. She wanted to go to the washroom before leaving. As they sat there with everything they bought around them, Ronnie Anne thought she heard something behind her. Behind her was a small patch of trees, but she could faintly see a figure within them. Curiosity got the better of her, she got up to see what it was she saw. Clyde called out to her, but she ignored him and continued to walk towards the figure.

"You are so useless!" She heard a male voice shout. Getting close enough, she hid and peeked around a tree to see what was going on. There she saw a boy around her age with short messy brown hair. He wore a red long sleeve button up shirt, blue jeans, brown boots, and a white wool hat with red trimming. He wasn't alone either, in front of him was a scared and whimpering Houndour. She then recognizes this person, he was one of the trainers that battled Clyde. His Houndour had lost to Clyde's Milcery, he didn't look happy after the battle but didn't think he was this upset.

"Ever since I caught you, you haven't won a single battle!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. This caused the Dark Pokemon to whimper more and go lower to the ground. "You can't beat a Gloom, you get stomped by a Pidgeotto, and you lose to a small puddle of cream! I'm done with you! Any Pokemon would be better than you!" He took out an ultra ball and threw it to the ground before stomping on it, breaking it to pieces. "Get lost! I don't need you anymore!" He then walked off leaving the whimpering Pokemon by its lonesome.

Ronnie Anne wanted to go up to him and slug him for treating his Pokemon like that. However she didn't because she didn't need to get in trouble with Lynn and her mother again. Once she knew the trainer was gone, she came out of hiding and slowly approached the whimpering Pokemon. Upon noticing her the Dark Pokemon flinches and curls up itself more. "Hey it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you" she said in a soft and quiet voice. The Houndour flinches and tense up when she makes contact, but slowly starts to relax when it feels her petting her. Feeling like she can do a little more, Ronnie Anne carefully moved the Houndour into her lap. Again the Dark Type tensed up again, but went back to how it was before seeing she meant it no harm. Soon Houndour starts to cuddle with Ronnie Anne, while the girl pets and comforts the Pokemon.

"So this is where you ran off to" a voice said from behind the two. Ronnie Anne looked behind her to see a worried Clyde and a stoic Lynn. "When Clyde told me you suddenly ran off, I was worried that you were getting into trouble again." She then looked at the Pokemon she was holding. "So mind explaining the situation?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ronnie Anne told them what she saw, feeling Pokemon in her arms shiver and whimper more. Clyde had a look of disbelief and fury, while Lynn had a snarl on her face glaring in the distance. "While a part of me wished you'd hit the bastard, I'm glad you thought first instead of rushing in" Lynn said through gritted teeth. "You didn't know if he had any type of training and could've gotten hurt, which only caused us problems."

"I can't believe someone would do that to their Pokemon" Clyde said in frustration, his fist were clenched.

"Not all trainers care for their Pokemon Mcbride" Lynn told the young man while crouching down. "There are trainers that only see Pokemon as tools, tools to help them win the league." Both younger teens let out a soft growl at hearing that, Lynn meanwhile started to examine a piece of the broken ultra ball. "With its pokeball destroyed, this Houndour is now a wild Pokemon. We have no choice but to leave it here."

"We can't just leave it!" Ronnie Anne shouted, hugging the Pokemon closer to her. "You said it's a wild Pokemon now right? So I can catch it and it can come with us." Both trainers and Pokemon looked at her surprised.

"Are you sure about this? Poochyena still won't listen to you" Clyde told her, trying to help her in this situation.

"Houndour is a Dark and Fire Type, it'll have a disadvantage going against the Cerulean Gym" Lynn pointed out. "You'll have to care for it, on top of caring for the others and earning Poochyena's trust, will you be able to do it?"

Ronnie Anne nodded in determination. "I'm not going to just leave it alone," she told her before looking down at the Pokemon. "Do you want to come with me?" The Houndour looked up at her shock, before barking happily and started to licking her face.

Clyde looked at the scene with a smile, while Lynn let out a sigh before a small smile graced her lips. "Alright then, put it in a pokeball and let's go" Lynn said before turning around and starting to walk away. "By the time we find a place to camp it's going to be dark, so let's get moving so we're not up late." Ronnie Anne quickly tapped a pokeball to capture it, then she and Clyde ran to join the older girl.