Ash, after hearing Lucy summing up how he battled and pointing out what was wrong with it, said, "So, you're saying that the way I battle is wrong somehow?"

"No, not wrong, it's just that you could stand to be a bit more proactive than reactive in your battling. Now, to accomplish this, I'm going to need you to send most of your Pokémon back to Professor Oak's Laboratory."

"Huh?"

"We at the Battle Pike usually only carry two of our Pokémon on us at any one time," Lucy said, glaring at Barbara, "this allows us to bond more with those Pokémon. Of course that means that we rotate our Pokémon on a pretty regular basis. But it'll be a bit different in your case."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Well, since you're not actually a trainer of the Battle Pike, you will be allowed to carry more than two Pokémon during your stay here. However..."

Ash said, "I figured there'd be a 'but' coming in somewhere."

"Yes, well...anyway, for now I'd like you to send all but two of your Pokémon back to stay with Professor Oak while you undertake your internship here."

"All but two huh...alright then, I'll keep Pikachu and..."

"Ah, but you can't keep Pikachu," Lucy said, cutting Ash off before he could state the second Pokémon that he had chosen to keep on him.

Ash exclaimed, "What? Why the hell not?"

"That should be obvious," Lucy said. Seeing a blank expression on Ash's face she explained, "When Scott told me that I would be training you, I went over some of your more recent matches, and I found something. When you come across a tough situation in a Pokémon battle, you tend to do one of two things. Choose a Pokémon that has evolved a lot, or go with Pikachu. Going from what I saw, can I assume that you only brought Pikachu and fully evolved Pokémon with you?"

"Well, no. I brought Gabite with me. I used him in the first match just now."

"Ah, I apologise then. I wasn't here for the first one, only the second two. So, disregarding Gabite, I was correct?"

"Yes."

"Well that's why. I want you to be able to battle your way out of a tough situation without needing to rely on Pikachu."

"Hmm..." Ash said as he looked at Pikachu, "I suppose that I can agree with that. So, do I have to send all of my Pokémon other than Gabite back to Pallet Town?"

"No, you can keep two of your own at the beginning, but other than that you can only use Pokémon that you've acquired during your time here."

"Alright," Ash gulped, unsure of how much of a chance of catching any Pokémon that he'd get.

Lucy, seeing Ash's fear, and having suffered the same fear herself while she was training for her post, smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll give you plenty of chances to catch Pokémon. When you have a full team of six or more Pokémon I will want you to return the two original Pokémon that you kept here to Professor Oak's Laboratory."

"Alright," said Ash, kind of expecting something like that to have to happen.

"Well, on to our first order of business then, returning your Pokémon to Professor Oak's Laboratory. You'll be glad to know that since we have our own Pokémon Transfer System here at the facility you won't need to be constantly going in to the town to see Nurse Joy at the Pokécentre."

"Really? That's expedient."

"Yes, it's the first thing that I had Scott install when it came to designing my Battle Facility."

"Really?"

Lucy said, "Yeah, I undertook my training with Brandon you see, and with his Flying Pyramid there wasn't really that much time to go to a Pokécentre to get my Pokémon healed. Living out here that problem also exists, so I had him have one installed for me. I had never really considered that it would need to be used like this, but, well, I'm glad that it can," as she led Ash to the Pokémon Transfer System. When they got there Ash placed the Pokéballs containing Pikachu, Swellow and Leavanny in the Pokémon Transfer System and pressed the little red button, sending them to Professor Oak's Laboratory. "Alright, now that that's taken care of, I have something else that I have to tell you."

"Alright?" Ash said, uncertain as to what else the Queen of the Serpentine had to tell him before he began his training.

Lucy, seeing Ash's face laughed, saying, "It's nothing that bad really. As a matter of fact it should help you achieve what you need to during your time here. You see, whenever a new trainer comes to work as a trainer at the Battle Pike we give them two Pokémon."

"You give them to them?"

"Yes. We raise them ourselves from eggs that have hatched from our own Pokémon for that very purpose."

"Hmm...I'm not sure that I like the sound of that, but alright. I assume that that means that you are going to give me two as well then?"

"Indeed."

"Do you select the two, or do I have any say in it?"

"No, we select them and the two that I have in mind for you suit the purpose exactly."

"Alright, so what are they?"

Lucy said, "Milotic and Tynamo."

"Milotic and Tynamo?" Ash asked.

"Yes, are there any problems with that?"

"No no, I just don't know how giving me a Pokémon like Tynamo will assist me in improving my battle style, especially when you give me a Pokémon like Milotic alongside it."

"Ah, I see...you are asking me such a question because you are suffering a misconception."

Ash inquired, "A misconception?"

"Yes. You see the any Milotic we give to a trainer is on a very low level. You see we raise the beauty STAT of the Feebas that they evolve from without giving it any battle training. I have one of my assistants go to Lavender City to have all if forget of its attacks. When we bring it back here we then teach it Brine and Water Pulse."

"Ah, I see. So you do this to give both the trainer and the Pokémon time to evolve together, even if the Pokémon doesn't actually evolve under the trainers care."

"Indeed. It also serves to assist acclimate the trainers with the way things work around here."

"I see. It seems that there is far more to running a Battle Facility than I had previously believed."

Lucy smiled before saying, "Indeed there is. But we will have plenty of time to teach you those things before you leave."

"Teach me well."

"Of course, here are the Pokéballs with your two Pokémon. I suggest that you use the rest of today to get to know them. Your training starts tomorrow." Ash thanked Lucy before heading to the training field with a pool in it.