Disclaimer: I own nothing.

One-Shot: Frontier Brain

AN: So I've had Pokémon on the brain for a few months now, and I've got a lot of background written up for a story that starts right after Ash's gym battle with Brock and diverges in a few key areas. But this isn't that! It's a one-shot. The first in a probable series of one-shots in my new Pokémon scraps archive. I'll be adding everything in here that I put down in words that doesn't warrant its own publication. If someone wants to take over a snippet, feel free to ask and I may agree.

Ash looked at Scott shocked, the plaque holding his frontier symbols almost slipped from his slack fingers before he snapped out of it. Shaking his head he glanced down at his award and then back up at Scott.

"Are you serious? You really want me to become a Frontier Brain?"

Scott just laughed boisterously, "why wouldn't I, Ash? You're one of the best battlers I've ever seen! Especially now that that Charizard of yours is listening to you!"

Ash flinched slightly at the reminder of his very first Pokémon League Conference before nodding his head, accepting Scott's point.

"So, what exactly would being a Frontier Brain require?" Ash asked tentatively, if he had to give up his journey…

Scott beamed at him, sensing an opening "Surprisingly little, actually. Since you've beaten all of the current Brains you're going to be last in the rotation and, believe me, you'll have plenty of forewarning when someone manages to beat Brandon."

The fifteen year old looked contemplative, this actually wasn't sounding so bad. "So, how would I get back to Kanto if I'm out of the region?"

"Ash, really! Brandon has a flying pyramid! Getting back to Kanto would be the absolute least of your worries. Of course Anabel could always help you train an Abra; you could use a psychic type…" Scott trailed off rubbing his chin, imagining Ash's completely unorthodox battle style incorporating an Alakazam.

Ash looked deep in thought for a few moments, ignoring Scott's silent contemplation of him. He glanced at Pikachu, riding his shoulder as always. Pikachu looked back at his trainer and gave a little grin and nod "Cha!"

"I'll do it" Ash suddenly said, completely interrupting Scott's ramblings about what type of Pokémon Ash should try to capture. What the hell was a Gible, anyway?

Scott broke into a huge grin and clapped his hands together "that's fantastic! I can't wait to inform the others, this is going to be absolutely huge!"

Scott's enthusiasm was so contagious that Ash found himself grinning and bouncing on the balls of his feet a little bit, this was going to be awesome! "So, what do I do first?"

His new boss immediately settled down and gave Ash a solemn look "now Ash, now we do one of the worst, most awful, most horrendous tasks required of us."

Ash wasn't so sure this was a good idea anymore.

"Paperwork!"

Okay, so maybe it wasn't all that bad.

It really was all that bad! This had to be the most boring thing he'd ever done in his life!

"Okay, Ash, we need to head to Pallet town next."

"Why's that, Scott?"

Scott looked unusually solemn and pierced Ash with a serious look for once "Ash, you're still a minor, that means that you can't become a Frontier Brain without your mother's consent. We need her to finalize the contract and accept the salary into your current bank account in your name."

Ash paled temporarily and started to hyperventilate a little bit before calming down with noticeable effort "Oh man, I completely forgot about what my Mom would say about this whole thing!"

Scott broke out into a tiny grin but quickly smothered it. Getting up he twirled something around his finger. Ash paled when he realized what it was. Car keys. Oh, crap.

"If I die I'm taking you with me!"

"Pikaaaa!"

"What? Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome my car is!" Scott yelled as his car hit a bump on the unpaved Route One and got some air time. When they crashed back to the ground, cushioned by the surprisingly extensive suspension system, Scott floored it even harder, pushing Ash back into his seat with acceleration.

Ash stumbled out of the car after it had screeched to a halt outside his Pallet Town home. Bending over with his hands on his knees, the teen dry heaved a few times, Pikachu doing the exact same next to him before they both straightened up and took a deep breath.

"So Ash, this is where you grew up eh? Nice place, quiet place, I don't think we would want to ruin it with a big old Frontier facility, how about you?"

Ash looked around his childhood home, the idyllic setting putting a smile on his face, and silently agreed with Scott. Smiling, he ran up to the door and practically busted it down in his anticipation of telling his mother the good news, completely forgetting his earlier terror.

"Mom! Hey Mom, you here?"

"Mime!"

"In here honey!"

Ash turned to look into the kitchen where he saw his mother and Mimey washing up after their lunch. Completely forgetting his earlier nausea caused by Scott's driving, Ash's stomachs gave out a mighty growl and he laughed sheepishly, hand on the back of his head.

Delia Ketchum quickly wiped her hands on a dish cloth before rushing over to her son and pulling him into a rib cracking hug. "It's so good to see you again Ashy! How are you doing? How was the Battle Frontier?"

Ash blushed momentarily at the nickname before perking up with a huge smile on his face. Turning to look over his shoulder he nodded to Pikachu who proceeded to open up his backpack and dive in.

Delia looked confused at the furiously rustling backpack, but when Pikachu popped up out of the opening holding Ash's plaque and symbols above his head victoriously, she couldn't help the proud, beaming smile that came across her face.

"Oh, that's wonderful! I'm so proud of you!" Delia enthused, going in for another hug.

Ash opened his arms and closed his eyes in anticipation, but when nothing came he cracked his right eyelid open before his jaw dropped and his arms fell weakly to the side. Delia walked away with Pikachu cuddled in her arms enthusing over how he was "the strongest Pikachu in the world" and how he "made her so proud she could just burst". Pikachu, typically, was eating it up.

Ash briefly scowled "tch, typical" but started to smile again as he saw his mother look back at him and give him her proudest grin ever.

"Nice place you got here, Ash, very homey, very quaint but not in a bad way, I like it. Might have to buy myself a vacation home here for when I need to get away from it all and settle down."

"Oh, Scott! Sorry, in all the excitement of seeing my Mom again I completely forgot what we were here to do" Ash laughed sheepishly.

"No worries, Ash! It's a great feeling coming home again after so long away. So, where's your mother so we can finalize these signatures?" Scott asked, holding up a thick folder of documents.

"Ash honey, who's your friend?" Delia asked, coming back from putting Ash's Frontier plaque in his display of accomplishments.

"Ah! Sorry, let me introduce myself Ma'am. My name is Scott, and I own the Battle Frontier that your amazingly talented son just finished demolishing."

Ash was blushing from the praise but couldn't help the stupidly proud grin that came over his face. He was amazing, wasn't he?

"Mom, Scott and I have something we need to talk to you about" Ash said, trying to sound serious but his silly grin and the bubbly excitement just under the surface was showing through easily.

"Well, come along then, we can talk it over in the dining room."

"So you want to hire my little Ashy to be one of your Frontier Brains?" Delia was slightly incredulous with a big heaping side order of awe. She had no idea her son was that talented. Taking on Legendaries and winning? She was fit to burst with pride.

"Your son has one of the most unorthodox, unpredictable and effective battle styles I've ever seen, Mrs. Ketchum. He is, quite simply, the most talented individual to enter the Pokémon League in the last decade."

Ash looked at Scott slightly shocked. He had no idea that the man thought so highly of him. "Scott, I don't know what to say, I'm not that good, am I?"

Scott looked at Ash and his mother with a shockingly serious face. "Ash, do you have any idea how rare it is for a trainer as young as you are to consistently advance so far in the competition? You got top sixteen in your very first League ever, afterwards you again advanced far in the Silver conference, this time climbing all the way to top eight. In Hoenn, a region that had many Pokémon that you'd never seen before in your life you advanced to the top eight again. You're the first in the history of the Orange League to ever become Champion. Ever. You're the very first trainer to ever conquer the Kanto Battle Frontier" Scott continued, noticing Ash's shocked expression "Did you think you were the first person to ever attempt it?"

"You did kind of make it sound that way" Ash admitted sheepishly.

"Ash, there have been forty seven trainers before you, none of them have ever defeated Brandon, if they even got that far. You are astoundingly naturally gifted in the art of Pokémon Training and Battling. How much extra training did you put in before your various league competitions?"

"Well" Ash stopped momentarily, blushing in embarrassment "I never actually specifically trained much for the League finals in any of my competitions" Ash continued, his blush worsening at how negligent that sounded to him in hindsight.

"Exactly! Ash, you have what it takes to be one of the best, if not the best Pokémon Trainer in the history of the world if you put more effort into it! Being a Frontier Brain will get both you and your Pokémon immense battle experience. You will, of course, have to face the occasional challenger, probably around fifty a year after you officially start your duties depending on the Brain rotation, but next to being a Gym leader, this will be the best learning experience you could wish for."

Delia was looking slightly shocked after Scott's passionate speech, she had known her baby boy was a good trainer, but her focus had always been on Pokémon research as a student of Professor Oak, never on battling.

Scott continued "But Ash, you need to understand, this is a huge responsibility. You'll need to train your Pokémon harder than ever before. You'll need to support them, nurture them and help them grow to be the most powerful Pokémon that they can be."

Delia finally decided to speak up, placing a comforting hand over Ash's that was sitting limply on the table; she looked Scott in the face and asked a question that had actually been troubling her "what about continuing his journey? If I know my Ash, and I do, he'll want to keep going, and keep competing in Pokémon League Conferences. In fact, Professor Oak was going to tell him about a league that he's never been to before over in Sinnoh. Registration for their next scheduled League starts in five months since the most recent one just ended. Is Ash going to be able to compete in the leagues still?"

Ash got a steely look of determination in his eyes and tore his gaze away from the table to look Scott in the eye "I don't think I'd be able to become a Frontier Brain if it meant giving up my dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, Scott, I'm sorry."

Contrary to what Ash was expecting Scott got a huge, beaming smile on his face "Ash, that is exactly what I was hoping you would say." Noticing confusion starting to cloud Ash's face, he continued, "Ash, I want you to keep competing, the Frontier and Leagues aren't officially connected in any way, and only loosely associated. I want you to keep battling, keep competing and keep striving to be the absolute best trainer that you can be. I want you to be so unbeatable that trainers come from all over the nation to challenge Ash Ketchum, Battle Frontier Brain."

Delia frowned slightly as something occurred to her "This may sound a bit presumptuous, Scott, but what is Ash's pay scale going to be like?"

Ash jerked slightly, breaking out of his daydreams of he and his Pokémon getting better and better, becoming the best trainer in the world and winning leagues. He'd completely forgotten that he was going to be receiving a paycheck for this.

Scott gave a half sinister half gleeful grin; he always enjoyed this part of it. The shock and then utter disbelief that the new Brains always showed at their new salary was an endless source of amusement to him. Pulling out the top document from his folder, he gently slid it across to Delia for her inspection.

Ash looked over his mother's shoulder, trying to make heads or tails of what was in front of him. In this position, he was perfectly situated to catch his mother as she fainted dead away. Slightly panicked, he scanned the document looking for what had put her in this state before his eyes picked out a number. "Uh, Scott, is this your phone number?"

Scott couldn't stop laughing after that question "No Ash! That's your new salary should you accept! The Battle Frontier is a worldwide organization with facilities in twenty three different countries! Our battles are televised to over a hundred different nations all over the world and after your performances, I expect that we'll start getting even more challengers than ever before."

Ash was actually fairly close to hyperventilating. As he felt his mother stirring in his arms he straightened her out in her chair, allowing her to sit up before slumping back down in his own. "Why so many zeroes?"

Scott instantly got serious again, looking Ash straight in the eye and making sure he had his attention before continuing, "Ash, you and your Pokémon are going to be training like you never have before. You're going to be spending the next five years of your life becoming the best trainer you possibly can be before contract renewal comes up. That means giving your Pokémon the best possible medical care, the best possible diet and the best possible training that money can buy. I cannot stress this enough, Ash, if you and your mother sign that document, you will be required to become one of the best Pokémon trainers in the world. Are you ready for that?"

Ash gained an uncustomary serious expression before looking at his constant partner and companion of the last five years. Pikachu looked back at his trainer, his best friend and his brother in everything but species and got a blinding smile on his face "Pi!" getting an energetic nod of approval bolstered Ash's confidence and he looked back at Scott with a solemn face.

"Just one question."

"Anything Ash, anything at all."

"Will I have to wear an outfit like Tucker does?"

After Scott had calmed down and was breathing normally again, he met Ash's gaze and, still grinning replied "No, you won't have to wear a fairy outfit. Honestly, I don't understand that man myself but he's a damn fine battler."

Ash only had one question left "do you have a pen?"

AN: I see so many Battle Frontier fics where Ash just signs right up, not even considering the consequences or anything at all, and the authors completely ignoring the fact that, as a minor, he cannot sign a contract like that without parental consent. That aside, I'm thinking that Ash would be a traveling Brain for the Frontier, being part of the rotation of whatever region he happens to be in at the time. Not only would this allow him to keep traveling, competing in the leagues and training his Pokemon in various locations, but it would also throw some wrenches at the trainers that are participating in the local Frontiers, could be fun.