The next day, Lana got up and put on her work out gear before tying her hair into a ponytail and crept out of the house. She put her key above the door frame and then ran the same route as she had the previous day, Lucario by her side. When they returned, they fought against each other again and, when they were done, they crept back inside so that Lana could have a shower and got dressed before making her lunch and going to the Pokécent. When she was there, she went in and grabbed one of the rucksacks from her tent before heading out the back and started picking berries from the trees to make more potions for the Centre. When she'd deemed that there was enough to cover what they'd used up the previous day, she went back inside and started sorting them. She was just finishing recording the haul into the ledger when she heard the zip opening in the central tent. She thought, 'Ah, they're here.' She stood up from her desk and went into the central tent.

When she saw Lana emerge from her supply tent, Lydia exclaimed, "You're here!"

Lana smiled and said, "Of course. Now, come on, let's go," and moved back into the tent that she'd just come from. Lydia and Fiona looked at each other before shrugging and following after her. She undid the fly of the tent and exited before moving to stand at one end of the clearing before looking back at the two Apprentice Joys. Seeing them staring at her blankly, Lana said, "What are you waiting for, get over there," nodding at the other end of the clearing between the orchard and the tents.

Lydia hesitantly said, "Alright," not liking how Lucario was standing in front of Lana. The sisters walked slowly over to where Lana had indicated before Lydia said, "Okay, now what?"

"Now, Lana said, "your training begins," a grin making its way to her face.

Fiona said, "Uhh…by 'training'…you wouldn't happen to mean…"

"I mean, call out Pikachu and Taillow. They'll be fighting Lucario."

The sisters simultaneously exclaimed, "What?!"

"You heard me. Call out your pokémon. I did say that you'd be having battle training for an hour before the Pokécent opens, didn't I?"

"Well, yes, you did. But we thought that we'd be battling against each other."

"Seriously?" Lana asked, having never even considered the idea.

"Well, yeah. There's no way that Fiona or I could beat a Roving Nurse Joy."

Lana sighed and said, "Yeah, well, look at it the other way. What good would come from using each other as training partners at this point?"

"What good would it…"

"Two trainers of the same level battling it out against each other is one way for them to progress, there is little doubt of that. That is why many trainers actively seek out a quote unquote, rival. But, that is only after a certain point. At any time before you reach that point where you need someone to continuously pit your strength against, it's almost completely pointless. I am only here to get you to that point. In the first hour after you're done for the day, you'll be battling against each other before healing your pokémon, then, for the next half hour, I want you to analyse what's happened and then I'll battle you again for the next half hour, when I shut the Pokécent for the day."

"Alright," Fiona said, still not at all comfortable with the thought of facing off against someone in battle, training or otherwise. She drew Taillow's pokéball from her apron's pouch and said, "Gooo, Tailloww!"

Lydia rolled her eyes at her sister's dragging out of the words as she said, "Pikachu, let's do this," releasing it from its pokéball. When they saw their opponent, both pokémon lost all of their colour and rushed over to their trainers and scampered behind their legs, sensing nothing but overwhelming strength from it. Lana sighed and shook her head. Lydia turned to crouch down to address Pikachu. She said, "What seems to be the problem, Pikachu?"

"Pika pik pik pika pika pik pika cha!" motioning first at Lucario then itself and Taillow.

Lydia said, "Look, I know it's strong, but we're training right now to protect a pokécentre if it comes under attack. And it's not like the pokémon that we'd be facing in that situation would be terribly weak either."

"Pika?"

"Yes, really. Besides, I doubt that Nurse Lana will actually bring out all of Lucario's power against the pair of you."

Taillow had been listening in and looked to his trainer and cocked his head and said, "Tai-il?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she's right. Besides, this is training for us as much as it is for you."

"Tail?"

"Lydia and I, we've never actually trained for battle in our lives. All of our other pokémon are dedicated for healing."

Taillow exclaimed, "Ta-illl?!" his eyes widening, not at all assured by the statement that he would come out of the battle in anything close to a healthy state.

Lydia sighed and said, "Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence there, Taillow."

Taillow exclaimed, "Tail-tail tail taillowww!" moving its wings up and down, clearly distressed.

Lana said, "Taillow," gaining it's attention. "Fiona told me yesterday that you showed a lot of guts facing off against her Lopunny. Where's that now?" she then turned to Pikachu and said, "As for you, I've seen Pichu that aren't anywhere near as yellow as you are."

Pikachu burst from behind Lydia's legs and said, "Pika! Pik-pik Pikachu!" gesturing wildly in protest.

"Oh yeah, then prove it!"

Pikachu emphatically said, "Pika! Pikachu!" getting into a ready stance as Taillow flew in front of Fiona.

The two Apprentice Joy could only blink as, in only a few words, Lana had managed to completely banish any sense of fear from their pokémon, having only met them for less than a minute the previous day. Lana said, "Alright, you pair can attack first."

"Alright," Fiona said. She turned to Lydia and asked, "Do you mind?"

Lydiai said, "No, go ahead."

"Thank you. Taillow, that looks like a fighting type, so use Peck!" Taillow let out a cry of acceptance and flew at Lucario as its beak glowed white and extended.

Lana said, "Lucario, Detect." Lucario's eyes glowed green as he predicted Taillow's attack path and moved out of its way at the last second.

Lydia said, "Alright, Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Lucario, the dregs of Detect still in its eyes, predicted where Pikachu would be attacking from just before it completely faded away, and moved out of its way.

Lana said, "Use Shadow Claw, Lucario!" Lana said. Immediately, lucario's left paw was surrounded by purple ghostly energy that formed into a hand. It slammed it into Pikachu, who had yet to land, sending it crashing back to Lydia.

Pikachu sprung up and slid backward for a few feet before coming to a stop as Lydia almost shrieked, "Pikachu!" Pikachu looked to its trainer and let out a questioning sound. Lana asked, "Are you alright?"

As Pikachu reassured her, Lana thought, 'So, she cares about it enough to ask if it wants to go on already? I'm surprised. I didn't think that she had it in her.'

Fiona said, "Taillow, use…uhh…Steel…no, it's a fighting type, so Steel Wing will be ineffective at best. In that case, use Double Team!" Taillow let out a cry as it multiplied on the field.

Lana thought, 'Double Team? What's she thinking? There's no point to using Double Team in this battle. In any case…' "Lucario, use Bullet Punch."

Fiona thought, 'Damnit! If it had been Fiona's turn just now, I could have used Taillow's Quick Guard to protect us against it, but, as it is…'

As Fiona bit her lip, Lydia thought, 'Bullet Punch? That's a Steel type move! A fighting type can use Steel Moves? There's no way! Unless…is Lucario part steel type? If that is the case, then…' She ordered, "Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!" Pikachu gathered its electricity and let fly with its attack almost instantaneously.

Lana said, "Lucario, stop and use Shadow Bone!" Lucario stopped its attack on Taillow and faced Pikachu as it generated a purple bone between its hands and started to twirl it very quickly. When Pikachu's attack reached it, it was moving fast enough to block it. But, Lucario went one step further and actually managed to redirect the attack at Taillow, who cried out in pain as the electricity rushed through his system.

Fiona cried out, "Taillow!" before rounding on Lydia and saying, "What did you do that for?"

"Lucario is clearly part Steel Type, so Electric Moves should have a decent chance of inflicting damage, and, on top of that, Thunder Shock has a ten percent chance of paralysing the victim. Besides, how was I to know that she could redirect it?"

Fiona cocked her head and said, "Alright, fair point. In any case, I've got an idea."

"Alright. What is it?"

"Would you mind letting me call an attack for Pikachu?"

"No, go ahead, if you think it's worth giving it a shot." She addressed Pikachu firmly saying, "Pikachu, listen to Fiona for now." Pikachu gave a confirming, 'Pi-ka!'

Fiona said, "Alright Taillow, use Peck again!"

Lana thought, 'This again? Ah well,' Lucario, when I tell you, dodge." Lucario let out a sound acknowledging the order. When Lana deemed Taillow was close enough, she said, "Now!" and Lucario started to move.

When Lana gave the command, Fiona said, "Now, Pikachu, Flash!"

Pikachu said, "Piiikaaa!" as its eyes glowed white and a blinding light shone forth, causing Lucario to flinch away and raise its hands to cover its eyes. It was perfectly timed too, letting Taillow's attack land. When Taillow was back in front of her, Fiona's eyes widened in surprise. Lucario was completely unscathed. She said, "What? But how? Lucario's a fighting type, so Flying attacks should be super effective against it!"

Lana said, "Lydia just said it herself, Lucario is a Steel Type too. That more than covers its weakness to Flying Type attacks."

"That's…not fair!"

"Lesson one, fair, has nothing to do with battle. You need to be able to adapt to different situations if you want to succeed." Lana grinned as she said, "Of course, even then it may not be enough," thinking on her battle almost seven years ago, and the similarities between the two. "Well, that said, you've got the right idea there Fiona. But your execution is wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Trainer and pokémon playing together and working together. That is the creed of the trainer. Double battles have another element thrown into them."

"What do you mean?"

"The base is still the same, but you also need to coordinate with your partner, rather than having one person coming up with the plans and then executing them together. Especially when it comes to this format."

"What do you mean? What's so special about this format?"

Lana sighed and said, "You can look it up later. Now, get your minds back in the battle."

The sisters simultaneously said, "Right!" and refocused on the battle.

XXXXX

The morning shift went off without any problems arising. For lunch, Lana had hers in her tent while Lydia and Fiona went to a café that they'd seen when they'd been searching for Lana the previous day. When they got there, they sat down and waited until a waiter came to take their order. Once they'd given it, Lydia pulled out her pokédex and said, "Right, now we need to look into that battle format that we were using this morning."

Fiona asked, "You were still thinking on that?"

Lydia scoffed and said, "Like you weren't." Fiona shrugged, conceding the point as she moved her seat around so that it was next to her sister's so that she could see what she was doing. Soon enough they found what they wanted after putting Lana's name next to '2 vs 1 Pokémon Battle' in the pokedex's PokéTube app. They watched the video of Lana and her brother against a Frontier Brain as they ate their lunch. By the time that it ended, they were a quivering mess. Lydia said, "We were…battling against…a monster like that?!"

"Nurse Lana…she's…how? I mean, I've heard rumours from some trainers from the Hoenn Region that they have a Frontier Brain that was as strong as their Champion, but I'd never believed it. Now though, I'm starting to believe it."

"Either way, I think that we should broach Nurse Lana about finding someone else to be our training partners, don't you?"

"Yeah. If her Lucario is anything like his, it's probably a good idea."

They hurried through the rest of their meal before going back to the Pokécent. When they were there, they went into Lana's supply tent and she looked up and asked, "What's the problem?"

Lydia said, "You fought against a Final Frontier Brain when you were twelve!"

Lana sighed and said, "So, you looked it up, huh?"

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

Fiona exclaimed, "And you almost beat him!"

Lana scoffed and said, "No we didn't. Jayce and I stood no chance against him."

"But you beat one of his pokémon!" Fiona objected.

"Yeah, sure. We beat Floatzel. What's your point?"

"What's our point?!" Lydia exclaimed. "You said that there was no point seeking out a rival until we reach a certain point, right?"

"That's right. Why?"

"You can't get us to that point."

Lana said, "Explain?"

"The gap between where we are and where you are, is far too great. So we would like it if you could arrange somebody closer to our level to train with."

Lana sighed and said, "I can talk with Professor Oak about arranging something, but…in the end, you may just be stuck with me."

"Be that as it may, if your Lucario is anything like what we just saw there…" Lana started to laugh. Lydia, put out by the mocking laughter, said, "What's so funny?"

Lana sighed, amusement still in her voice. She said, "My Lucario is still nowhere near as powerful as his mother."

"Wait! His mother?! Do you mean to say that Ash Ketchum gave you Lucario?"

"That's right. Why?"

"Uhh…no offence, but why would he do that?"

"Well, at the end of the battle you just saw he asked me what I wanted to do, and I told him about wanting to be a Nurse Joy, but, I couldn't find a healing partner."

"Seriously?" Lydia asked, neither she nor Fiona having had any difficulties finding a Chansey in the Safari Zone.

"Yeah, and, as luck had it, the Riolu that Lucario evolved from had just hatched, and he hadn't started to train it yet, so he gave it to me."

"That's, kind of a weak reason," Lydia said.

"Yeah," Fiona said. "You're not like, secretly his daughter or something, are you?"

"No, don't be ridiculous," Lana said dismissively. "Now, get back to work."

"Right!" the sisters said and rushed to their respective tent.

When they were gone, Lana sighed and said, "In any case, I'd better go and see Professor Oak about what those two wanted. It'll give me more time to work in the Pokécent anyway." She got up and left, leaving Lucario in charge while she was gone.

Lana quickly made her way to Professor Oak's Lab and knocked on the door. When he opened it, Gary exclaimed, "Lana! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm giving the apprentices that I was sent some battle training, and they're complaining that I'm too strong to be able to train them myself."

"I see. Well, you're in luck. Almost all of the villagers here have some level of pokémon training experience. I suppose that if they want to, I could spare them some time."

"I'm…sorry, but they started freaking out when they found out that I fought against Ash Ketchum once, six years ago and I lost badly. I don't think that they would feel at all comfortable battling against you, who has fought him to a draw multiple times."

Gary sighed and said, "I suppose that I can see your point. Hmm…well, I suppose that it's a long shot, but Delia could do it." Lana raised her eyebrow, questioning the sanity of the idea. "No no, seriously. She may be his mother, but she's never actually gone on a pokémon journey herself."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The story that I heard was that when she was about to, she got pregnant with Ash. So she gave up on it and bought the Pallet House from the previous owner and focused on that instead. She's caught and acquired a number of pokémon over the years and has some innate talent in battle."

"I see. I'll bring it up with them when we've finished for the day."

"Well, if that's all…"

"Yeah. Sorry if I took you from some new discovery."

"No, nothing like that," Gary said. "I was just getting some training in for Magmortar and Arcanine."

"Alright. Thank you for this."

"No problem. If you need anything, just ask and I'll see what I can do."

"I'll…keep it in mind," Lana said uncomfortable at the thought of what Gary included in 'anything'.

XXXXX

When they were done for the day, the second round of battle training included, Lana said, "Well you pair, I went to see Professor Oak earlier about what you were saying."

"Really?" The sisters said, brightening up immediately after the thrashing that they'd just received. "What did he say?"

Lana said, "He said that he would be willing to do it for you," causing the two to lose the colour in their faces. Lana thought, 'Nailed it.' She said, "But, I told him that you two might balk at that, so he told me to broach the idea with Delia."

"With…Delia!?" Fiona exclaimed. "That's probably just as bad!"

"Actually, according to Professor Oak, she's never once gone on a pokémon journey, but has still acquired quite the collection of pokémon, and battle skills to go with them. So, if you want to come with me now…"

"Of course," Lydia said. "Actually, come to think of it, I was going to ask you something about that battle this morning."

"What about it?"

"Before it started, you managed to steel the resolve of our pokémon with barely a sentence."

"Is there a question there?"

"How did you do it?"

"Oh. That's easy. With Taillow, I have a Flareon that has Guts as its ability and it can't stand when someone questions its fortitude and takes it as a challenge to prove them wrong."

Lydia asked, "What about Pikachu? When we were looking you up 'that night', we saw that you don't have a pokémon from its evolutionary family."

"You're right. That one should be obvious though." Both sisters looked at her blankly, causing Lana to sigh. She said, "After my brother and I were thrashed by Ash, the very first thing that I did was study his pokémon and the strategies that he used with them."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. And, I found out that his most-used pokémon, is Raichu. So, I undertook an in-depth study of its line of evolution and found that, by and large, Pikachu, don't like being compared to other pokémon of the same colour. I don't know why, but they do. This morning, I just figured that using its pre-evolved form would be a more effective motivator."

"I see," Lydia said as they reached Pallet House.

When they were inside, Lydia rang the bell at the desk and waited until Delia was there, far more patiently than she had the last time that she'd rung the bell. When she was there, Delia said, Lana! And you pair! You're not going to get into another fight, are you? Because, if you are, please take it outside."

"No, nothing like that," Lana said with a smile.

"Oh. Alright then, what is it that you're here for?"

"Well, I said that I would give these two some battle training, but, they seem to be of the opinion that I'm some sort of monster. So, I went to Professor Oak and asked him about arranging someone and he suggested you."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…" Delia said. She looked the sisters over and said, "Alright, but they'll need to take a late lunch if they want to do this."

"Why?" Lydia asked.

"Well, I've got to look after the rooms of the Inn. That can take me a few hours, then I'll need to have lunch myself before I even think about training the pair of you."

"I see. That makes sense," Lydia said.

"Of course, I'm also considering offering lunch for the next two weeks, but I'd need an assistant to help in the kitchen while I take care of the rooms.

Lana grinned and said, "I know some two people that need some cooking training."

"Really?" Delia asked, as the two Apprentice Joys blanched. "Who? It's not like you've been here that long, really."

Lana stepped back so that she was behind and between Lydia and Fiona and pushed them slightly forwards. As she did, she said, "This pair."

Delia frowned and said, "Why do you want them to do that?"

"Because, I tried walking them through my poffin recipes yesterday and you saw the result."

"Hmm…" Delia said, looking up and to the right. "Y ou know what, you're absolutely right. You do know just the person that I need."

"I know, I can't look after every bit of their…"

Delia cut Lana off saying, "You, Lana, are perfect for the job."

"Huh? Me?" Lana said, pointing at herself. "Why? I don't need any help."

"I know. That's exactly why I need you to do this with me."

Lana sighed and said, "But I need to supervise…"

Lydia said, "You haven't overseen our work once," willing to say anything to get out of cooking for as many people as the inn could cater for."

"Sure I have," Lana said.

"When?"

"Right after you caught Taillow and Pikachu."

Delia looked at Lana aghast. She said, "Aren't you supposed to be training them?"

"I am."

"How?"

"Look, while they're working on gaining experience, I'm making potions to replace those that are being used. I would teach them the nuts and bolts of it, but if they were screwing up those poffins as bad as they were yesterday, when I was there, hovering over their shoulders, I'm not sure that there's much point."

"Hmm…I can see your point. Alright. How about this then? After I'm done with their training, they can help me with dinner?"

"That's fine. But it's going to have to be one at a time."

"Why's that?"

"Because, then I'll be covering for them at the Pokécent and, well, even I can't be in two places at once."

"Okay. That's fine then."

"Oh, and I'm not going to be able to do it on Saturday or Sunday either."

"Why's that?"

"I'll be entering the tournament."

"You're entering?"

"That's right. Why? What's the problem?"

"Oh, no problem, but…" Delia looked at Lydia and Fiona.

"Ah. You don't need to worry about that. Auntie Selene will be coming to take over for me during the tournament."

"Nurse Selene's coming here?!" Lydia and Fiona exclaimed.

"That's right," Lana said, "didn't she tell you?"

"No. She never mentioned a word of it," Fiona said.

"Maybe she wanted it to be a surprise," Lana theorised.

"You…clearly don't know Nurse Selene very well."

"Oh, I wouldn't know about that," Lana said. "She's gets annoyed when the 'surprise' distracts her from her work or makes it more difficult, but other than that, she's usually pretty good with them. But, in the end, it really comes down to the 'surprise'. Like when you called her that first night to get advice on unlocking a non-existent lock on the entry tent."

"You…know about that?!" Lydia exclaimed.

"Of course. It was hilarious," Lana said, chuckling a bit as she recalled their antics.

Delia disapprovingly said, "Lana."

Lana sighed and said, "Yes, yes, I'm sorry," waving it aside. "In any case," Lana said, looking at Delia, "do you want them to start working with you on dinner now?"

"No. It's too late into the service for what they'd need. If you want to step in though, you'd be more than welcome."

"No. I'll be fine. I think I'll use the time to make some poffins in your kitchen if that's alright."

"Certainly," Delia said with a smile. She looked to the sisters and said, "There are a number of recipe books in the kitchen in my house if either of you want to try your hand at anything, so long as it doesn't interfere with Lana's poffins." She faced Lana and said, "And I'll be trusting you to make dinner too."

"Alright. Do you have anything particular in mind, or…"

"No. just use whatever is there."

Lana said, "Alright, thank you Delia."

XXXXXXX

A/N

I don't like doing this, that's why I haven't thus far, but please review; what you like, what you don't or what you'd like to see. All of this helps, unlike the 'review', done by Farla, who seems to like to go from story to story, pointing out where the author's stylistic preferences differ to theirs.