Ash had recently competed in the Unova League, eventually defeated by the guy that went on to emerge victorious in the semi-final. Right now he was watching the waves lap against the hull of the ship that was carrying him back to Pallet Town in the Kanto Region. He sighed morosely as he thought, 'I'm eighteen now and what have I done. I finished in the top sixteen in the Indigo League, eighth in both Johto's Silver Conference and Hoenn's Evergrande Conference and fourth in both the Lilly of the Valley Conference and also the Unova League Tournament, then dealing with Ghetsis got in the way of registering for he Kalos Lagure. I've done so much, yet accomplished so little...' he sighed '...well, I'm really sick of travelling around, maybe I should just settle down and try to get some training for a real job...' he sighed again '...so much for being a Pokémon Master...what a joke. Wait a sec...real job...Pokémon Master...Master Real...no no...Pokémon Job...Wait! That's it! Maybe I can call Scott, see if that job of Frontier Brain is still open.'

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Two weeks later, back in Pallet Town's Port, Ash disembarked from the ship, to be met by none other than Scott himself. Ash, seeing Scott, took a step back in shock and asked, "Scott? What're you doing here?"

"Ash! Well well, what d'you know, I must admit that I didn't expect to see you here."

"You didn't?"

"No, right now I'm waiting for the trainers from the Unova Region that want to take on the Kanto Battle Frontier, I suppose I've got you to thank for that."

"Well, I don't know about that," Ash said, scratching the back of his head.

"So, you given any more thought to my offer?"

"Yeah, I was actually going to give you a call when I got home, but since you're here..."

"Really? That's great news, you see recently there've been some problems with getting advertising rights overseas, with someone like you as a Frontier Brain we shouldn't have any problems."

"Advertising rights?"

"Yeah, in addition to trainers from the Kanto Region the Battle Frontier seeks to increase the number of trainers from other regions to come here, not only does it help the economy of the towns that have a Battle Facility, but it also gives the Frontier Brains variation in their battles."

"I see," Ash said, understanding the desire for variation in battles. "So, when do I start?"

"Whoa whoa, now just hold on a tic, you can't just go straight from being a normal trainer to being a Frontier Brain, there's more to running a Battle Facility than just battling challengers. Other than the day to day work of running the gym there're other things that the Frontier Brain needs to be able to do. There's also a difference in the mindset between a Challenger and a Frontier Brain, just as the is with a Gym Leader. You've probably noticed this over the years, but Gym Leaders use their skills to test the challengers own. As a rule of thumb Frontier Brains use their to push the challenger into a corner and see if they can adapt and change to suit their needs, granted each Facility also adds their own twist to the theme, but you get the point, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I can understand that," Ash said, thinking back over all the battles that he had fought against various opponents, "although I've never really thought about it before, all of my battles in the Pokémon League Tournaments were more desperate than my battles against the Gym Leaders."

"And that's the difference between a challenger and a Frontier Brain, the Frontier Brain needs to stay cool and collected to push their challenger to the limit, and then beyond, challengers push themselves to their limit."

"Okay, that'll take some time getting used to."

"I know, that's why, when we get a new Frontier Brain, we enter them into a sort of internship with one of the current ones."

"Okay, so who am I going to take mine with?"

"Gimme a few days to think on it and I'll get back to you, how's that?"

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll be staying at my house for that time. You can find me either there or at Professor Oak's Laboratory."

"Yeah, sure thing Ash," Scott said as he walked off, seeing the new contenders of the Kanto Battle Frontier.

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One hour and thirty minutes later Ash knocked on his home's door. Soon enough Delia opened it and, seeing Ash, half-stated, half-asked, "Ash?"

"Ye-ah," Ash half-sarcastically replied.

"But...weren't you getting home tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but due to a pod of Wailord giving the ship a ride the ship got in early."

"I see...Ah! Oh no! I was going to start cooking all your favourite meals this afternoon!"

Ash sighed and said, "Never mind that, I won't be going out on another journey for quite some time."

"You're not?"

"Yeah, if you let me in I'll tell you all about it."

Delia exclaimed, "Ah! Of course, come on in!" as she opened the door, moving out of the doorway.

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That night Scott was pouring over past records and video's of matches that had taken place in the Battle Frontier, all of which involved Ash. He watched them in order of the battles that were fought(1). When he got to the end of the video's he poured over the reports handed in by the Frontier Brains and decided on who Ash would be undertaking his internship with.

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Meanwhile Ash had spent the rest of the day reminiscing with his Pokémon on his past journeys and realising that, in all his time travelling, it was only the second(2) time that he had actually kept all of the Pokémon that he caught in that region. Ash also used the time to plan on what Pokémon he would take with him when he left to undertake his apprenticeship. In the end he decided on Gabite, Pikachu, Swellow and Leavanny, leaving two spots free.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The next day Scott was at the Battle Factory, watching a battle being waged against Noland. Scott was very unimpressed by the trainer's calibre. He sighed in disappointment as he thought 'The competition's quality has really dropped lately. Well, at least I can fill the other Frontier Brains about what's going on from here.'

Noland said, "Aggron, Flash Cannon!" his Aggron fired a silver beam at the opponents Rhydon. When the Rhydon fainted Noland sighed in disappointment at the battle that had just been fought. "Now see here, kid, if you want to seriously challenge the Battle Frontier you need stronger Pokémon. A Pokémon like your Rhydon, that's just evolved, is no match against any of the Frontier Brains' Pokémon that we've had for years. Come back when you have more experience." The kid ran away wailing, causing both Noland and Scott to sigh in irritation. Noland looked at Scott and demanded, "What were you thinking Scott, sending a brat like that here? The last true challenger we had was that Ash Ketchum almost three years ago."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, but believe me, he was the best of a bad bunch."

Noland sighed and said, "Well at least tell me that you have something else to do here."

"I do."

"Oh thank god," Noland said in relief.

"I need to set up a vid-conference with the other Frontier Brains."

"A vid-conference? It's been a while since you've had us all online at once. What's going on?"

"A game changer."

"A game changer?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be great."

"What is it?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Noland growled in irritation as he led Scott to the vid-conference room.

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20 minutes later Scott was in a room with Noland and Six real-time images of the other Frontier Brains, he said, "Alright, first up, how is everyone going?"

"I'm bored out of my mind," Lucy said, no-one is coming to battle me anymore, being seconded by all of the other Frontier Brains.

"Yes well, hopefully I've come up with a way to change all that."

"Oh? How's that?" Brandon asked.

Scott smiled and said, "How many of you remember Ash Ketchum?" All of the Frontier Brains informed Scott of their remembrance of Ash. "Well, recently he contacted me about my offer to become one of the Frontier Brains."

"Did he finally accept?" Brandon asked.

"Yes."

"I see. You've outdone yourself this time my friend," Tucker said, "Young Ketchum can put on a real show when he wants to."

"Yes, well, like you guys he needs to undertake a period of training before being officially announced."

"So, who is he taking it with?"

"I tossed many idea's around, Tucker, you were my first choice, but as you said, 'Ash can put on a show', that means there's nothing that he can really learn from you."

"This is true."

"Likewise with Annabel, Greta, and Spenser; Ash and Brandon are too dissimilar for it to be worth it to apprentice Ash to him either, Noland falls into the same category as well."

"So, you're apprenticing him to me then?" Lucy asked.

"Yes. Ash's battle style is based more around defence than attack. I think that it would be good for Ash to be a bit more versatile in his battling before letting him become a frontier brain. I'll leave it up to you to decide the method."

"Very well," Lucy said, closing her eyes as she bowed her head.

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Author's Notes

(1) Noland, Greta, Tucker, Lucy, Spenser, Annabel, Brandon
(2) I count Haunter as being one of Ash's Pokémon