Summary: A bet with Drew engulfs May on a journey to win one game of any sport. Realizing just how physically inept she is when it comes to any type of physical activity whatsoever, she decides to ask one of the top athletes at her school for assistance. Will have multiple pairings. Experimental.
AN: I still haven't decided if I want to switch things up and change the end game pairing, or keep it advance like I initially planned. I will have multiple pairings, however. My very first Pokemon multi-chapter fic (finally breaking out of doing one or two shots, haha)! I am about to tread on waters that will either make or break my fanfic career. Place your bets, will I sink or swim in this usually horribly clichéd setting of high school? Either way, I worked really hard on it so I hope you guys enjoy it! This is just an experiment to see what people think.
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A Pokemon Fanfic
Author: wubbzy
Count: 4468
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And the Winner Is…
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Chapter 1
Danger
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Glances of annoyance and slight twitches of the eyes from her fellow classmates are what May had to endure in her physical education class today. She gulped, her expression doubtful and just a bit self-conscious. She didn't move her head as she stared at the pitcher who was eyeing her with what May can only describe as disgust. Her gaze averted to behind her, where the catcher was looking at her impatiently. It seemed like everyone was eyeing her impatiently, especially as she lamely tapped the bat to the plate, pretending to stretch her arms.
"May, just swing the bat," a girl deadpanned. May sheepishly chuckled to ease the tension, but to no avail. She took a big breath. She was stalling before she made a complete and utter fool out of herself to her female classmates.
"Right." She readied an awkward stance, waiting for the pitcher to throw the ball.
This was not how she liked to spend her times in PE. She preferred sitting on the bench, so much that she had volunteered herself countless times. Today would not be the same as previous classes, however. Her teacher was in a rather nasty mood (rumors of a rather hard breakup she presumed), and she was quite angry that the girl would get an easy A when she did nothing but dress in her PE uniform, yet not break a sweat. No, life couldn't be easy, so she demanded May's participation.
This was why May was led to the batter's box with a bat being shoved her way. Many of the girls on the outfield giggled with a load of confidence that this was going to be an easy win. May felt they took this game a little too seriously.
Why on earth, would winning a dumb game for PE class actually matter?
"May, focus!" her teacher growled. "This is for a grade, you know," she reminded. May sighed, deciding she should at least pretend to put in some effort. She'd get some points and she wouldn't completely fail. Her eyes widened when the ball came her way. She closed her eyes, covering her head and stepping away.
"Strike one!"
"May, keep your eye on the ball!" her teacher lectured.
"Easy for you to say," May grumbled under her breath. She scrunched her face with frustration, annoyed that she could potentially get a serious injury from such a dangerous sport. She could lose an eye! Clearly, her teacher did not understand her predicament.
"May, you can do it!" Dawn shouted as she tried to cheer her best friend on. May looked back as she gave her a thumbs up. Dawn smiled at May's look of concentration until she realized her gaze had quickly lost focus to something in the sky. She soon sweat dropped at the scene.
May Maple was an odd ball. She was ditzy, and wasn't really up-to-date with what was happening. If anyone had anything to say about her, they would say she was living under a rock. Her mind was distorted with day dreams, making her unable to survey her surroundings at all at times. It was easy to tell her head was up in the clouds.
She hadn't even realized she actually hit the ball.
"Run, May! Run!" she heard someone call. She looked behind her, hearing Dawn and her teacher screaming at her to move. She looked over, her surprise evident.
"Oh, I actually hit it?" she asked incredulously, rather proud of her achievement. "Piece of cake!" May laughed, until she heard many of the girls on her team screaming at her to run. May dropped the bat and began running towards first base. She was almost there, too, until she felt something smack her right in the back of the head.
After that, it all faded to black.
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May blinked, nothing but blurs and a purple spot in her line of vision. May groggily moaned as she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head.
"Are you alright? How many fingers am I holding up?" Dawn asked.
"I think I am, three, and what happened?" she asked.
"You got hit by a soccer ball from the boys' side of the field," Dawn explained. May groaned as she caressed the back of her head, feeling a rather large bump. It was an understatement to say it hurt quite a bit. She was surprised she didn't receive a concussion.
"Now you see why I can never participate in P.E.?" May groaned. She looked up to see her best friend who was giggling.
"It's because you're in the P.E. class for athletes," Dawn explained. May nodded, wondering how on earth she got into that class when she played no sport. In fact, she would like to believe she was more anti-sport, than anything. She couldn't bear to watch any when her dad and little brother are watching soccer, let alone play one herself. In fact, she would consider herself the least inept when it came to sports.
It was annoying because this was the only P.E. class that had a diversity of lower and upper classmen since it was the elite class with all the athletes. She guessed it was because her schedule always got jumbled up. Even when she was a freshmen, they had decided to put her in a class far more advanced than she wanted. It took them three weeks to finally fix it. The only reason why she didn't take this mistake to the counselor was because her best friend was in the same class as her. How was she supposed to leave when it would be the only time they could talk besides lunch time? It was unfortunate for May that her best friend and herself only received one class together. A big disappointment since they held high expectation that they would at least be in three classes like last year.
May sighed, realizing it would never go her way.
"That's not the point. Have you noticed that I'm just not good at sports? They are so boring," May dramatized. Dawn giggled at her friend who acted like a drama queen and made a big deal out of nothing.
"Stupid soccer ball," May complained as she rubbed the back of her head. "Stupid boys. They should really watch where they kick." Dawn shrugged.
"At least you got out of P.E. early," she mentioned, making May brightened.
"Is class over?" she asked. When Dawn nodded, May's face instantly fell with panic. "That means we're missing lunch!"
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"Ah, my favorite time of the day: lunch!" May exclaimed as her stomach growled. Dawn sighed in exhaustion; May would never change. "Today's my favorite: pizza and tator tots!" May reminded her.
"Wow, you sure forgot about that hit to your head," Dawn observed with a smirk.
"Of course I didn't. I'm still mad, it's just subsided for the mean time," she explained as she grabbed a carton of milk and placed it on her tray. "I need my nutrition to get this healed, you know." May laughed at Dawn's unconvinced expression.
"Anyways, I wanted to talk to you about something," Dawn presumed as the two walked to their usual table. The two were the only ones at the table. At the very least, before an uninvited guest greeted them. There, May's archenemy (at least that's what she called him since middle school), Drew LaRousse. Dawn frowned, wondering why they were never on good terms now. However, May was always very vague about Drew, instead resorting to name calling.
Drew came up to them with his hands crossed over his chest and a large smirk on his face. He only uncrossed his arms to move his green hair out of his eyes.
"I heard about what happened today." May immediately became exasperated by the boy in front of her, her fist clenching in anger.
"What, came to make fun of me?" May asked in annoyance. He shrugged.
"I just came to see if you're hurt is all. Don't want to lose any more of your brain cells." Drew smirked at the scowl on her face.
"Tell me why you're really here," she demanded as she sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. She eyed the boy, knowing it couldn't be anything good. Drew brought his hands to a shrug.
"Believe it or not, I'm just trying to help. I just thought you might want to know who hit you," Drew told her with a bit of smugness to his demeanor (a bit more than usual, May noted). May's anger subsided as she asked, "Who, you?" May assumed as she glared. Drew laughed, shaking his head.
"As if I'd ever not have control of the ball," Drew defended, a bit offended. May rolled her eyes. "It was that Ketchum kid, actually." Dawn gasped when she saw May fume.
"Oh really? Watch when I see him! He better apologize!" May said as she raised invisible sleeves and clenched her fist. Although Dawn frowned, seeing as May was taking this way too personally.
"It was an accident, you know," Dawn reminded, thinking she should really be thanking him for excusing her out of P.E.
"Either way, I deserve an apology!" May said as she stood up. She then stopped herself, staring into space. "Ugh, who's Ketchum again?" May asked as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. Drew sighed with a small chuckle while Dawn's eyes widened in sheer shock.
"You don't know who he is? He's probably one of the best athletes on the basketball, football, baseball, track, and soccer team," Dawn told her in astonishment while Drew merely chuckled in understanding.
"It's not a shocker. Obviously she wouldn't know the top athletes at this school. She's so ignorant when it comes to things like this. May's such a noob."
"Am not!" May countered as she glared at him. "I'm tired of you always making fun of me! I'm way better than you!" Drew eyed her.
"Is that so?"
"Of course! I can do anything better than you!" May crossed her arms. Drew smirked.
"Are you sure about that?" he wondered self-righteously.
"Sure I'm sure! In fact, I bet I could at least beat you at something… anything!" May exclaimed just as haughtily.
"Hah, I bet you can't even win a single game of any sport that's in this school," Drew said as he crossed his arms with a certain authority that could intimidate just about anyone. However, May's demeanor hadn't faltered. In fact, she smirked with nothing but confidence.
"You're on. If I win, then you have to admit I'm better than you in every way," May declared. Drew sighed.
"I have nothing to lose. I'm completely confident that you'll lose." May smirked.
"…in a dress, in front of the whole school," she finished. Drew paused, glaring at the girl. She grinned. "What, are you scared now?" Drew turned his head away, flicking his hair away from his eyes.
"Of course not. But if I win, which I will, you will… come to school in clothes of my choosing, and you'll stand up on the table and repeatedly sing that I am better than you in every way, to the tune of 'I'm a Little Tea Pot." May gulped, but never avoided eye contact, no matter how much his eyes pierced right through her.
"Now, are you sure you want to do this? I don't want to embarrass you, you can back out you know," he told her. May glared.
"As if I'd back out. It's a deal," she exclaimed, bringing her hand out to shake on it. The two shook hands, and she glared his way, trying to give him her meanest of glowers. Drew swiftly wiped his hair away from his eyes once more before he walked away. May sighed, sitting back down to continue eating. Dawn just sat there, gawking at the events that transpired.
"What were you thinking?" Dawn gasped. May nonchalantly shrugged, taking a bite into her pepperoni pizza.
"I'm thinking I finally want Drew to admit I'm better than him! He's always ahead of me, and I hate that! It's about time that he realizes that I may not be the most observant, but I am just a cool a person as he is!"
"I get why you might want to show Drew up – actually, not really, but that's besides the point – but you're going to accomplish it like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"May, you said you'd be able to win a game of any sport," Dawn reminded her. She shrugged once again.
"How hard can that be? I'll just find an easy sport and just wing it. It can't be that hard. I mean, there's golf, ping-pong, foursquare... Easy." May grinned as she took a sip of milk. Dawn frowned in concern.
"I hope you know what you are doing."
"Well, I can't turn back time anyways. Nothing left but to move forward!"
"Well, you know you need to make a team then." Dawn trailed off.
"Really?" Dawn nodded.
"Yup. Which means you should try out or join some club or something," Dawn suggested. May grinned.
"Yeah, I'll definitely do that! See? This is going to be a piece of cake," May said as she took another bite of her pizza. Dawn sighed, hoping her friend wouldn't humiliate herself – again.
And so, tryouts began.
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Golf…
"Don't I look cute?" May posed as she showed her friend her white golfing uniform. Dawn sighed, face palming.
"I think you should be worried about making the golf team than how cute you look, May. Although, gotta admit, those shorts are fabulous. I need to borrow them sometime." May wasn't one to pay attention when someone reprimanded her, so she had been pretending to concentrate on the ball.
May grinned, swinging the golf club.
She swung the club, and soon wondered where the golf ball went.
"Woah, I must of hit it so far it went out to the atmosphere!" Dawn sighed at her cluelessness.
"Ugh, May?" She pointed to the floor to show her the untouched golf ball.
"Huh? But I hit it! I'm sure of it! This game must be rigged or something!" May complained as she stared at the golf ball. "Fine, I'm not one to give up! I'll just try again. No need to worry, right Dawn?" She winked when she said Dawn's usual catch phrase, and Dawn shook her head, sighing at her friend's antics.
"Sure…" she trailed off, wishing she'd just swing the ball. May readied herself, getting realigned with the ball. She swung the stick, and then quickly looked down to see if she hit the ball.
"This time I must have…" her eyes widened when she saw the ball up in the air above her, hurling down.
She definitely hit it alright...
And this was how May earned a second bump on her head.
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Tennis…
"This will be a piece of cake!" May said aloud as she stared down the machine that was about to throw tennis balls. She was sure her forehead was still throbbing from the pain of the golf ball, however, she wasn't about to give up on finding her forte. She wondered how on earth she didn't get amnesia from such a traumatic hit to the forehead, but she quickly dismissed it, moving on to her next challenge.
"Ready?" Dawn asked. May nodded, readying her stance and her tennis racket. Dawn turned on the machine, and it began to shoot out tennis balls.
"Whoa, why is it trying to hit me?"
"You're supposed to hit the ball, May!" Dawn reminded. "Don't be afraid of the ball, attack it before it attacks you!" she advised. However, her words were in vain for she was sure May was too busy screaming to hear her.
Unfortunately, the balls attacked her before she had a chance to attack them.
"I don't think tennis is your thing." Dawn sweat-dropped.
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Volleyball…
Volley ball…. No, let's not talk about volleyball.
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A few failed attempts later…
May flopped down to the pavement, incredibly exhausted.
"Nothing! I'm not good at any sport! What am I going to do?" she cried to the skies. Dawn stared down at the girl with a frown.
"Do you want to try cheerleading?"
"Cheerleading? That's not a sport." Dawn shrugged.
"Maybe not to you. But I just thought you'd want to go with me to cheer you up." May sat up and stared at the girl.
"You're trying out?" May questioned. Dawn grinned.
"Yup!" Dawn smiled excitedly. "I was hoping you'd be there wishing me luck. Hey, maybe it will give you the confidence you need."
"Alright!" May grinned.
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Cerulean eyes shined at the prospect of her best friend began her routine.
"So cool! Gymnastics really made her a shoe in to win," May commented as she stared at her friend audition. With the way the team had been looking at her throughout her performance, May could tell that she was already in.
Dawn had ended with a back flip, her arms stretched out into the air as she posed in her stance. May's eyes widened as that back flip turned to the splits, as though it was nothing. The music ceased, and the next thing she heard was clapping and cheering.
"Wow, we could use a girl like you on the team. Well, thank you for auditioning, we'll be sure to tell you the results on Monday, we just have to see a few more of the other auditions," the team captain told her. Dawn nodded, when she felt another one of the team's cheerleaders whisper in her ear, "but from what we've seen, you're definitely in." Dawn grinned even more, excited at the thought. She thanked the team as she headed towards the bleachers where she instantly embraced May as the two squealed.
"Wow, you were amazing!" May complimented.
"Thanks! It took me a while to think of that routine, but it paid off." They walked towards the girl's locker rooms as Dawn started telling her, "You know, why don't you ask a really good athlete to help you out?" May tilted her head at the possibility. "I mean, I don't know if they'll agree to it, but it's worth a shot!"
"You're a genius!" May shouted in realization.
"There are three amazing athletes you could ask that I heard lead our football and basketball team to victory last year: Paul Veil, Gary Oak, and Ash Ketchum. Get this though: they were only sophomores when they became the leaders," Dawn announced, stars in her eyes at the thought of the three athletes. May's eyebrows rose.
"Is that good?"
"Good? It's phenomenal! That's unheard of to be a sophomore and accomplishing that! People usually can't even make it into the Varsity team as a sophomore. However, they were so good, they made it as freshmen – or so I've heard." May scratched her head.
"If what you say is true and they're really that good, then maybe I should ask one of them for help, don't you think?" May suggested, and Dawn deadpanned.
"That's what I just said…" she muttered as May hugged Dawn tightly and ran off towards her locker. Dawn sighed, wondering if she should have told her that there were actually four great athletes, and Drew was one of them. She frowned, knowing May wouldn't want to hear that. Not only would May not ask for his help even if he was the last person on earth, she was also sure it would be a real downer. May would rather run 100 laps than ask Drew for help. Deciding against mentioning it, Dawn shrugged, heading for the showers.
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May was in complete thought, wondering how she would go about her next plan of action. She had never heard of either of the three except for Ash Ketchum just recently. Though, he was the one who hit her with the soccer ball. She was still a bit upset that he still hadn't apologized. She never even heard of Paul Veil and Gary Oak till Dawn mentioned their names, too. Although… she was sure she heard girls say their names when in the locker rooms. Now that she thought about it… yeah, Dawn was fawning over them all freshmen year.
"Well, all I know is I should at least know who these people are before I ask for help." She realized it might have been a good idea to actually get a picture so she wouldn't have to be shouting out their names in the cafeteria. "Maybe Dawn can show me who they are since she practically knows everything about them. Well, more than I do at least." As May walked down the hall, she happened to notice the hall of fame that held the trophies and photos of the star athletes.
"Well, that certainly is convenient." May stared at the names around the biggest trophy she had ever seen. It was so entrancing, the way it practically illuminated the empty hallway. She read the names: Ash Ketchum, Drew LaRousse, Gary Oak, and Paul Veil. She paused, taking a double take. Drew? May grimaced at the name. "What's he doing in there?" May's arms crossed in exasperation. She briskly turned, furious, not wanting to look at the photos of the four athletes, when she bumped into someone.
"Oww," May groaned. Great, if her day couldn't get any worse…
"Sorry about that." A hand tersely came to her view as the only thing she could think of was how irritated and inane this day had been for her. It was only when she finally noticed the hand in front of her that she finally got out of her stupor and took it.
"Thanks. And it's okay." May looked at the boy, and her eyes widened. The raven haired boy smiled as he waved goodbye to the girl in a stupor. He was heading towards his locker it looked like. She turned and looked at the photo behind the glass, then stared at the back of the boy who was just leaving. "No freaking way," May whispered to herself as anger began to settle in. "Hey, you wait right there, Mister!" May called as she ran to catch up to the boy. Said boy turned around with a quirked up eyebrow in wonder.
"Huh?" Ash had already made it to his locker by the time May finally caught up. She was panting, out of breath. "How can he walk so fast? I really should stop being so lazy," she thought.
"Why hello there, Mr. Ketchum." Ash turned in a bit of surprise at the irritated voice behind him.
"Urm, hey. Can I help you with something?" he asked as he started to grab his books from his locker.
"Oh, just my swollen head," she said in annoyance as she crossed her arms and glared at the boy. He titled his head in confusion. She gritted her teeth. "Well, if I have to spell it out for you: you totally hit me in the head with a soccer ball today!" she confessed. "I'd really like an apology." She crossed her arms as she turned away from him.
"Oh, really? I didn't even know I hit someone, I'm sorry!" he explained to her, sincerely sorry. May smirked, happy with the response. This was her chance.
"Thank you." He nodded, returning back to his locker. "But I really need something in return," she told him, her smirk growing to both sides of her face. Ash sensed something was up, so he gulped. He soon glared at the girl, wondering what her deal was.
"It was just an accident, I don't know why you're getting all defensive about it," he said, placing his hands in front of him in defense.
"Well, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor," she began, placing her hands on her hips. He predicted it would either be something bad or weird. Ever since he was recognized as a top athlete and kind of popular, there were a lot of girls talking to him now, which was kind of weird now that he thought about it. They talked about odd things, those girls. Never once did they talk about sports, the reason why he was so popular, but he had shrugged it off, coming to the simple conclusion that girls were weird. However, as he stared into this girl's azure orbs, he couldn't help but think this girl was a different kind of weird…
She was strange.
"It's just. Y-you're a really good basketball player, aren't you?" she asked, flustered. She twiddled her fingers together in embarrassment. He nodded.
"Yeah, I'm kind of the best, if I do say so myself." May's eyebrow twitched a bit. He was certainly cocky about it. So much for modesty…
"Well, I kind of need your help then. I-I really want to make it on the girl's basketball team!" confessed May. "Can you please teach me everything you know about basketball?"
"Huh?" He frowned. "That seems like it would take a lot of time. Time that I won't have with practice starting up soon and-"
"Please?" she interrupted, getting on her knees and begging. "Is there any way you could at least give me some tips and pointers?" she asked hopefully. He thought about it, and then smiled.
"Urm, I guess I can give you a few tips and pointers." He shrugged, although a bit reluctant to agree, since he knew there would be consequences. He wondered how he would make the time for this when he had other responsibilities, although if it were only to give a few pointers for her, it couldn't consume so much time, right? May's face lit up. She instantly embraced him, feeling giddy and inwardly smirking at the prospect of finally showing up Drew.
"Thank you so much! Oh, you don't know how much this means to me! You are the best!" she yelled. She happily let go, beginning to skip her way through the halls. Ash scratched the back of his neck and fixed his hat, realizing his hair was now wilder than before May's attack. It was such a strange encounter with an even stranger girl. She definitely made some first impression…
The only adjective he could think of was weird. She was also incredibly odd; it kind of freaked him out a bit. He decided to shrug it off, instead grabbing the rest of his books and closing his locker.
Ash's eyes widened, pondering a bit. He hadn't even gotten her name. He sighed, figuring she had already left the building.
He shrugged, walking out the school to head home.
If she really wanted his help, she'd find him again… eventually.
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AN: I am planning to add multiple pairings, maybe a bit of everything, we will see. At the same time, romance is not the main priority. It will just be subplot to the main idea. It's not really about pairings, so I will see if I can add a few scenes to certain pairings. If there's a particular one you might want to see, speak now or forever hold your peace.