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

Chapter 23: Having a Heart to Heart

[Pokecenter, Saffron City]

After returning to the pokecenter Clyde and Ronnie Anne headed straight to their reserved room, while Lynn went to use the video phone. She called Professor Juniper to send back Pangoro, Scrafty, and Blaziken while getting back the Pokemon she sent.

"Thanks Professor, I'll talk to you again soon" she said before hanging up. Once she put her returned Pokemon pokeballs where they needed to be, she let out a larger sigh leaning against the wall besides the phones. "Maybe I'm pushing them too hard," she said to herself, thinking about her students' matches. "Having them going up against Sabrina this soon…I need to remember they're not like me and Linc. I should've taken them to Celadon or Vermilion first and then maybe here. They don't have that many Pokemon and are still new to all of this." She then started to lightly punch her forehead and let out a growl. "How did Linc make this look so easy? Then again he did help keep all of us in control, so I guess he has more experience doing this kind of thing. Well since I'm not sure what to do, there's only one person to ask." She then pulled out her poketch, used the call function, and called one of her contacts. "Hey Linc, I need some advice…"

Meanwhile back in the room, Ronnie Anne was laying in her bed with Houndour laying down beside her and Clyde was sitting at the desk in the room with Gloom in his lap. Ronnie Anne was mulling over Poochyena's battle and her relationship with her, while Clyde was writing in a notebook trying to come up with a strategy against Sabrina. Unfortunately Clyde let out a growl of frustration before ripping the page out, crumpling it up, and then throwing it into the bin beside the desk.

"Still no luck coming up with something Clyde?" The young girl asked, not bothering to look at him.

"No and I'm starting to think it's impossible" he replied, slumping over the desk. "If I had three Pokemon like you, then maybe. However, with just Gloom and Milcery it's pretty much impossible. Unlike with Misty and Brock, Sabrina will use moves to strengthen her team and Pokemon that have moves other than Psychic moves. Even trying to use Type advantage against her because she planned for it, like in yours and Lynn's match. No matter what strategy I come up with, she would most likely to counter it."

"Yeah, you really are at a huge disadvantage" Ronnie Anne said, still not looking at him. "But at least all your Pokemon will listen to you, even whatever hatches from the egg will probably listen to you. However, I might've been able to win if Poochyena listened to me."

Clyde then sat up and turned to look at her with an unsure expression. "Have you thought about what I said about what Lynn said to me?" She just grunted in response. "You don't need to pick one of those options right away."

"I know" she started, sitting up and looking towards him. "I'm just at a loss at what to do! A part of me thinks it might be better if I released or traded her, but she was the first Pokemon I ever caught. Lynn says I just need to be patient and keep trying, but I am not sure if I can."

Clyde was about to say something, when the door opened and Lynn walked in. She was carrying 3 bottles of soda, tossed 1 to each of her students, and then sat on her bed. Both of them thanked her and took a drink of their soda, noticing Lynn was still looking at them. "So I just finished talking to Linc about what to do next…" Ronnie Anne almost did a spit take and Clyde almost choked on his. "...And after getting his advice, I think I should give you two choices." Both looked confused, but stayed quiet and listened. "We can either stay here so you can try again against Sabrina, or we could go somewhere else and come back later on."

Both younger trainers were surprised by this. They looked at each other before Clyde asked "where would we go if we went somewhere else?"

Lynn pulled out her poketch and brought up the map function. "We could go west to Celadon City or south to Vermilion City" she replied, looking at the map. "Celadon has a Grass Gym and Vermilion has an Electric Gym. Santiago's Houndour would have a Type Advantage at Celadon and Nidorina knows Ice Beam which would help. It's almost the same with Vermilion, Poochyena knows Mud Slap which would be good against Electric Types and her other Pokemon might know or will learn Ground moves by the time we get there." Ronnie Anne gave her friend a smug smile while Clyde rolled his eyes at her. "Santiago just lucked out with the Pokemon she got, don't take it the wrong way McBride."

"I think we should go somewhere else then come back" Clyde responded. "I don't think I'm ready to take Sabrina on yet."

"I agree with Clyde," Ronnie Anne added. "My team needs to get stronger and I need time to think about something."

"Alright, so it's decided," Lynn said with a small smile. "Since I'm currently ahead of you two, I'll let you decide where we're going."

"Can Ronnie Anne and I talk about it first?' The solo male trainer of the group asked.

Lynn started to think about some before nodding to herself. "I guess we can stay in Saffron for an extra day or two. When you two decide, we will leave in the morning of the next day." Both younger trainers smiled and were happy to get a break after their recent loss, Lynn's expression then became an apologetic one. "I also wanted to say I'm sorry" both looked at her confused. "I should've taken you to one of those places before bringing you here. I knew how strong Sabrina was and ignored the fact you two were new trainers. I'm just so used to traveling with Lincoln and we already have gym-ready Pokemon, I was just thinking about myself. I forgot how hard it is being a new trainer and treated you guys the same way I would with Lincoln."

Both were surprised and shocked to say the least, hearing Lynn apologize and hearing what she said. "You don't need to apologize Lynn" Clyde started saying. "I'll admit I don't feel great after our loss against Sabrina, but I never blamed you."

"Yeah me either" Ronnie Anne continued on. "Actually hearing you say you treated us like you would Lincoln is awesome! It means you are seeing us as trainers and not an obligation to Lincoln."

Both of her students were smiling at her and Lynn couldn't help but return the smile. "Just don't let it go to your head Santiago, you both still have a long path ahead of you" she replied confidently.

After a minute or two of laughter Clyde asked something he wanted to ask during the whole conversation. "You talked to Lincoln?" Still smiling Lynn nodded. "Where is he?"

"He's in Celadon now," she replied. "I caught him just as he was on his way to the gym. Knowing him, he'll have the badge by the end of the day and be gone in a day or two."

"So we're still behind him huh" Ronnie Anne said, disappointed, but perked back up. "Then we have to work harder to catch up."

Lynn gave a little chuckle at her student's attitude. "That's the way you two need to be thinking. So what do you two plan to do for the rest of the day?"

"Honestly I haven't thought about it," the younger girl replied.

"I was going to keep working on strategies for going against Sabrina…" Clyde replied now unsure. "...But since we're going to go elsewhere, I don't have any plans now."

"Well you guys should talk about where you want to go next" Lynn started telling them, as she was standing up. "However, Linc said there's a Pokemon Contest Hall here in Saffron. They are always holding Pokemon contests there for fun, you could go and watch Coordinators." Both younger teens looked at her confused. "Right, you might not know what that is. A Pokemon Coordinator is a trainer that competes in a Pokemon Contests instead of the Gym Challenge. Pokemon Contests have trainers show off their Pokemon beauty while wearing outfits and costumes. There's a showcase where their moves and a battle part, but I never cared for them. Linc occasionally went to a few, but never participated in one. He suggested this because he thought it might be something you take interest in McBride."

Clyde gained a look of surprise and intrigue, thinking if Lincoln suggested it for him, he should check it out. "Well if you are not interested in that, then what are your plans?" Ronnie Anne asked.

Lynn suddenly got closer to them and started to speak in a whisper. "Linc told me there's an underground fight area here in Saffron. He didn't go when he was here, but thought I might want to go."

"You mean the same underground fights Lincoln used to participate in?!" Clyde asked in a panicked whisper, to which Lynn nodded.

"Really?! Can I come?!" Ronnie Anne asked loudly in excitement. She did remember what Lincoln told her about those fights, but a part of always wanted to see what they looked like.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Lynn asked, slightly confused, no longer speaking in a whisper. "I'm just going to watch, I'm not going to be entering." The younger girl nodded her head enthusiastically. "Alright, but I'm not paying your fee to get in." Ronnie Anne quickly returned Houndour to her pokeball and started getting ready.

"I think I'll go check out this Pokemon Contest Hall" Clyde responded. Lynn accepted that and the 3 trainers left to go to their activities.

AN: Now the next 2 Chapters will be them going to these activities, I'm not going to just skip over them like I did in Cerulean and the Sensational Sisters Show. Also this will help me set up what I want for the chapter after them.