When Ash had taken ownership of his new Pokémon he changed into his boardies and headed to the pool that Lucy had told him about. When he got there he released both Milotic in the pool and Tynamo to the side. He looked them over and said, "Hi guys, from today you and I are going to be partners." Milotic spat a stream of water at Ash's head. He said, "Uhh...let me guess, you're a girl, right?" Milotic let out a sound of dignified annoyance at his mistake, mixed in with forgiveness. "Okay, sorry then. I find it kind of hard to tell the difference in gender between some Pokémon. Hey wait! Why are your ears blue? For that matter, your tail is yellow too...hey...you're a shiny Milotic, aren't you?"

Milotic let out a sound as if asking, 'And you're only just realising this now?'

Ash shrugged. "Anyway, I figured that before we even think of battling together it would be better for us to get to know each other first. So, what do you say?" Milotic cocked her head, Tynamo mirroring her action with its body. "Come on, lets go for a swim," Ash said, diving in the pool with Milotic. Tynamo stayed by the side of the pool, not wanting to inadvertently shock his new trainer, and his other new Pokémon, as he knew that he was rather...excitable when happy, which he was at finally getting a trainer of his own, having seen his brothers and sisters being trained by other members of the facility. They spent the next four hours playing around in and around the pool along with Pidgeot and Gabite.

XXXXX

The next day Ash was woken up by a bucket of very cold water being poured over his head. He shot up out of bed and, seeing Barbara, narrowed his eyes and said in a tone that sent chills down Barbara's spine, "Never do that again."

Barbara said, "U...uhh...okay, sure..." unsure how to respond to Ash's demeanour when he had always been friendly whenever she had seen him before. She thought, 'He must really not be a morning person.' "Well, anyway," Barbara said, her tone back to its chipper self, "you have work to do."

"Work?" Ash asked, only now questioning why Barbara would be waking him up while it was still dark.

"Ye-ah. You're here to learn how to run a Battle Facility, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the first thing you need to do is go out and get the food for the Pokémon."

"At..." Ash said as he looked at the clock in his room. "...Five AM? Are you jerking me around or are you actually...?" he caught the look in her eyes and continued. "...You're actually serious, aren't you?"

Barbara raised her eyebrow, as if to say, 'Are you seriously asking me that?'

Ash sighed and said, "Why isn't there enough here already?"

"Acquiring Pokémon food for the Facility for the week is done this morning."

Ash tiredly sighed and said, "Alright, fine. Where?"

"The docks. Pier 29. Later," Barbara said in a sing-song voice, swinging out of Ash's room.

After Barbara was gone Ash thought, 'If she's like that every day, then I'm going to have to do something about it.' He sighed and said, "Ahh-ah...It can wait. For now, it looks like I have a job to do."

Ash had a relatively light breakfast of four pieces of toast, three eggs and five sausages. He then went outside and stretched. He said to himself, "I'm really doing it, aren't I Pikach...oh, right. He's not here." Ash sighed and thought 'I guess I really must have relied on Pikachu a little too much if I'm trying to talk to him even though I should know that he's no longer with me...Well, at least I've still got Gabite.' Ash then drew his four Pokéballs that contained Pokémon from his belt. He said, "Well guys, I think that we're gonna have a blast battling together." He then walked away from the Battle Pike, headed towards Saffron City Markets to buy food for the Water type Pokémon that Lucy had requested of him late the previous night.

On his way there, he saw a head of green hair tied up into a ponytail that belonged with a voice that he vaguely recognised. He thought, 'Ah well, I'm probably imagining it anyway,' and continued on to the Market. When he got there, he immediately went to look for a map of the area. Not finding one, he started walking through the streets that the multiple stores formed, looking for the stall that sold food for marine Pokémon.

On his way through the market he saw many different stalls, some of which sold Pokémon food for Pokémon of different types, others that sold decorations and other Pokémon accessories. One of which sold various kinds of Pokéballs for capturing different Pokémon. Ash decided that it was high time that he stopped carrying around only the six standard Pokéballs that he had on him. He bought a few of the Pokéballs and place them in the empty Pokéball slots on the 12-slot belt that he was given at the Battle Pike as part of his traineeship and went on his way.

10 minutes later he came across the stall that sold the food that he had been instructed to buy and bought 10 crates of it, each containing 6 cans of Pokémon food. The stall owner asked, "Do you want me to have some of my workers take it to the Battle Pike for you?"

"No no," Ash replied, "It's fine, Pidgeot will fly it over much quicker than it would otherwise take, plus, your workers will actually be doing something productive instead."

"Yeah well, I wish that that were the case, but recently the most they've been able to do is to gabble on and on about this new star that's performing alongside her Pokémon here. As a matter of fact, you probably passed her show on the way over here."

"Really?" Ash asked, thinking on his journey to the stall. "Sorry, I can't remember seeing a show on the way."

"Really? Well, I guess that it is the start of the day so there are probably not enough customers for it to be worth it. She might be performing a bit later if you want to stick around and see it."

"Yeah, I reckon I'll give that a shot. I just hope that the Pike Queen understands."

"Lucy might be a bit of a hardass, but she really does have a soft side for those that know her."

"Really? It sounds to me like you know her quite well."

"Yeah, she grew up in the same street as I lived in, still do."

"'S'at so?"

"Yeah, well, best get going if you want to catch that show."

"Right," Ash said, calling forth Pidgeot from its Pokéball and, giving it a rope with the crates on a pallet, said, "Okay Pidgeot, I want you to be really careful when you deliver this to the Battle Pike."

Pidgeot acknowledged the order and flew off, headed to the Battle Pike while Ash received instructions on where the performance was being held. After the stall owner had finished telling Ash where the performance was being held he asked, "If you see any of my workers there can you tell 'em that if they don't get back here pronto that they'll be out of a job?"

"Yeah, sure thing. How will I identify them?"

"That's easy, they're all wearing blue 'n' black v-necks like mine."

"Alright, see ya later," Ash said, bidding the stall owner farewell, knowing that he'd be the one going out to get the food for the Pokémon for the foreseeable future.

On his way back Ash heard a crotchety voice saying, "And I'll give the person who gets rid of those darned fighting types for me P1000000!"

Ash thought, 'That kind of sounds like…actually…who does that sound like? I'm sure that I've heard that voice before, but…' then he had a flashback of when an old woman tried to get him, along with Brock and Misty, to exterminate a school of Tentacool and Tentacruel so that she could build some hotel. Ash walked over to the voice's source and pushed his way through the crowd. When he saw that the woman had reddish hair tied in two braids that stood out from her head, he said, "You know, you look a lot like these two other old bats that wanted to play dirty to get what they wanted."

The woman looked down her nose as the young whippersnapper, as she was thinking of him, and said, "And who do you think that you are, you young whippersnapper?"

"Whipper…? Sorry lady, I don't understand old-person speech."

"Old…?!" the lady screeched, "I'm not old! I'll have you know that I'm just beginning to enter the prime of my life!"

"Yeah, and I'm a Primeape's uncle," Ash sarcastically said.

"Why you…!" the woman growled. "Who are you anyway?"

"Ash Ketchum," Ash said. "Maybe you've heard of me?"

"Ash…ketchup…hmm…nope, sorry. I don't pay attention to two-bit trainers."

"Two-bit…" Ash sighed and said, "You know what? I'm not interested," and shrugged, saying, "though I would suggest that you abandon whatever nuts idea that's going through your head that's causing you to want to destroy a Pokémon's habitat."

"I'm building a tunnel that leads from here in Fuchsia City over to Lavender Town so that we don't need to bother going all the way via Celadon City or the Silence Bridge, which is notoriously for disappearing trainers."

Ash said, "Are you sure that you don't have anything to do with that?"

"Urk!" the woman said, tugging on her collar, thinking, 'How could that brat know that? Eh, if he's run across my cousin's it would go a long way to explaining it.' "Now why would I have anything to do with that?"

"Well, I'm just guessing here, but it would go a long way to convincing the bigwigs of this city to go along with your plan to build this tunnel, wouldn't it?" as Ash was talking the people that had been listening to the woman started to walk away as his words did make sense. "In any case, you know my name, would you mind telling me yours?"

"My name is Loustina. What's it to you?"

" Loustina is it? I could be imagining things here, but you wouldn't be related to…what were their names again? Brutina and Nastella?" purposefully bungling their names.

"It's Brutella and Nastina! And they're my cousins. Why?"

Ash, hearing of the woman's relation to the two nutcases that he had met years earlier, thought, 'I'd better look into this,' and said, "Oh, just wondering," Ash said, walking off to investigate. As he left he heard a couple of voices agreeing to Loustina's request. He thought, 'Those fools!' as he headed to the Council Offices to find out exactly where Loustina's Tunnel would be built. As he moved off, Ashremembered a rather large problem with his plan. He didn't know where the council office building was. He thought, 'Damn! That's no good! Hmm…Ah! My pokedex should be able to te…' As he came up with the idea to check his pokedex, he moved his hand to his pocket, but it was empty. Remembering that he'd left it on the bedside table, he said, "Damn it! Now that I've sent Pidgeot back, I can't fly back to the Battle Pike, which means it's going to take me almost an hour to get to the council building." He sighed. "Wait a sec. Duplica's from around here. Maybe she knows where it is," and went back to where she was having her show.

Ash shouldered his way through the crowd. When he was at the front, Duplica blinked at him and squinted. After about half a minute, she said, "Ashy-boy?"

Ash said, "Not anymore."

Duplica looked him up and down and appreciatively said, "Clearly. So, you challenging The League again, or just visiting."

"Neither actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

That was when the crowd started yelling, 'Hey! Get back to the show', 'Who the heck does this guy think he is?' and 'the nerve of him!'

Ash turned to the crowd and said, "Hey, hey, calm down. I'm just an old friend," calming them down somewhat. He turned back to her and said, "Speaking of which, how long do you have left?"

"Well, I've really only just started. Why?"

"Well…I just found out that a relative of some rather irate women that has just hired a bunch of 'trainers' to help her drive out the pokémon in a specific area that she wants to build a tunnel. I was hoping that you could tell me where the council offices are."

"The council? Why?"

"That's where all of the planning and building applications are lodged and accepted. I would like to see if I can get her applications rescinded before picking a fight with a pack of hired goons."

"Hmm…sounds interesting. Alright then. I'll go too." She raised her voice and said, "Sorry guys, I'm going to have to put this show on hold for now. I'll be back around lunchtime!" The crowd all muttered angry epithets directed towards Ash, who looked at them apologetically. As they walked off, Duplica asked, "So, how do you know that about the council handling building applications?"

Ash replied, "That's…something that I don't really like talking about. Okay?"

"Sure thing, Ash." Ash nodded.

Twenty minutes later, they reached the council building and went inside. They went up to the front desk and the desk worker looked up and, in a grating voice, said, "What do the pair of you want?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me if there were any problems with Loustina's applications?"

"Loustina?"

"The crotchety old bat that wants to build a tunnel to bypass Silence Bridge."

"Hmm…I can't. Sorry. Even we have rules to follow."

"Oh, I completely understand. Then…could you tell me if there were any objections to the vote when it came up for consideration?"

"There were a few."

"What were they?"

"Councilman Hightower said that his family shared some history with hers and that, historically, Loustina's family had conducted some rather shady operations, but there was no evidence of that, or that Loustina herself had ever taken part in such operations. Councilwoman Davis said that there were some environmental and conservation issues too, but they were both ignored and the application got passed in order to ensure the safety of the villagers and all who are coming here."

Ash sighed and said, "Alright. Thank yo…actually…when did those 'safety issues' start up?"

"Hmm…it was around those storms about six months ago."

"I'm sorry, but I was over in Kalos until last week."

"Ah. Well, there were some really rough storms that ended up flooding the bridge, washing away a whole lot of travelers. Ever since, every so often, some people have been disappearing from along that stretch, so the tunnel was determined to be in the best interests of the town and was always going to pass, no matter what anyone said."

"I see," Ash said. "Hmm…wouldn't the establishment of a town ferry be a better solution though? I mean, that would settle the environmental concerns and make the town some extra money at the same time?"

"Hmm…you're right!"

Ash said, "Well, if you want to take it to your higher ups, then I'm not going to say anything."

"Alright. Thank you!"

"Oh! Right. When you do, I would suggest that you also inform them that Loustina has hired a bunch of dockside trainers to clear out the need for those conservational issues that you were talking about."

"What?!" The desk worker exclaimed, shooting up, out of her seat. "Are there any witnesses?"

"Sure. Me."

"Anyone else?"

"Yeah. Of course. The ones that she hired to do it."

"Hmm…You'd need to bring one to one of the councilmen that would be willing to testify in front of the council. Only then would they be able to revoke the building application now that it's been granted."

Ash sighed and said, "And here I was hoping to avoid a confrontation like that."

The desk worker looked at him apologetically and said, "Sorry, but them's the breaks."

Ash smiled and said, "Thanks," and left the council building.

Duplica asked, "So, what now?"

Ash sighed and said, "Now," he grinned, "we fight!" and headed to the pokécentre.

"Alright then," Duplica said, cracking her neck. "It's going to be nice, letting loose after all this time."

"So, how many Ditto do you have now?"

"Oh, I've got more than just Ditto now, though I still tend to turn to it. Wait…this is the way to the pokécentre."

"That's right. What's your point?"

"Why are we going there? You used to always have a pretty strong team on you." When Ash turned to her with a raised eyebrow, Duplica stuttered, "Not that I was stalking you or anything, I just always really liked watching pokémon league matches is all!"

Ash laughed and said, "I was only joking. Anyway, right now I'm training to be a Frontier Brain under the Pike Queen and she had me send all of my pokémon back to Pallet Town. If we're going to be facing down all of the trainers that were with loustina, then we're going to need our strongest teams to do it." Duplica grinned.