Getting Even More Stranger

"Fine, I'll try… something," I conceded. "Anything to get those girls to calm down. But I ain't twerking got it?!"

Leaf shrugged at this, "whatever you say, as long as it's dumb."

I walked back into the cafeteria trying to think of a way to get all those girls to calm down – see I hadn't exactly made a concrete plan, whoops – and when the table came into view, Misty and Serena both looked as if they were having a headache whereas Dawn, May and Iris were still shouting at each other.

But as I was about to yell at them to grab their attention, it happened.

"Oh hey Ash!" it was Barry, oh no. "Where have you been? All of us guys have been waiting for you."

"Um, Barry, uh listen, I can explain."

"You better Ketchum otherwise I will fine you! Do you realize how much I was wondering about your whereabouts?!" At the mention of my name that grabbed the girls' attention, Barry unfortunately had noticed this.

"Wait a minute Ash are you trying to get away or something?!" Misty called.

"Hey I wanted to talk…" groaned Dawn. Oh that's great, now they noticed I was gone.

"Ash?! What is going on here? You floozy, you've been getting all comfortable with these ladies haven't you?!"

"Barry listen," I stepped forward to try and calm him down but Barry pushed me away, my feet lost their balance and one of my feet ended up on a banana peel that Barry had been throwing out but dropped to the floor, he would too – anyways I slipped on said peel and landed on my head which caused Pikachu to thunderbolt me as my back landed on him, oh the humility…

"Agh…!" I cried as a yellow glow engulfed me, at last it stopped, but I looked a mess, swirls in my eyes and letting off steam like a boiling pot.

"Hah! Looks like Pikachu did the fining for me!" and Barry proceeded to do some kind of victory dance, I heard then a sort of giggling. I looked up and all the girls were laughing!

"That Pikachu," Dawn tittered, "really knows how to shock you doesn't he?"

"What was that?" May choked, "some kind of step up routine?"

"Encore!" proclaimed Iris. I reckon the whole cafeteria must be staring at me, how embarrassing…

"Nah ladies, just Ash here getting beaten by a Pokemon master prodigy," Barry boasted, I was too stunned to fight back.

"Nice lady friends you have here Ash."

"Just help me up damn it Barry…"

"Pika Pika…"

Barry took me to see Nurse Joy and she made sure me and Pikachu were alright, luckily we were, then again I really never been seriously injured by a surprise electric attack in the past.

That made me late to Battle Class, luckily I didn't miss too much so I could still have two battles today. I got to battle Barry – to which he said his win would go towards my fine for abandoning the guys during lunch. Listen here Barry, it's not my fault got it?! Anyways it was unfortunately for Barry his Hitmonlee still lost against my Palpitoad when we did get to our battle following a verbal banter.

It was an awesome battle, Barry certainly showed that when it comes to his training he's still got it since Hitmonlee kept pummeling Palpitoad with Mega Kick and Close Combat, but a combo of Mud Bomb and Hydro Pump eventually got me to win.

I wanted to battle Paul next, but then…

"Hiya…!" I felt a tinge up my spine as I heard the melodic greeting, it was familiar. "Hi! Excuse me, uh… Ash right?" Yep, it was her from this morning alright.

"Hey," I said, "Bianca right?"

"Eee! Yes, that's me, hey, this is battle class can we battle next please…!?"

"Alright then, but I won't be an easy opponent to beat," I replied, I doubt I've ever seen Bianca battle before, this'll be interesting.

We're standing either side of a battle field, I'm fiddling with my cap, man what does she have?! Bianca was busy shuffling through her bag when at last she produced a Pokeball, she then… Winked at me?!

"Alright Ash let's have some fun! Go, Pignite!" Her Pignite stood up on the field and let off a snort of fire.

"Pignite!"

"Let's go Pikachu! I choose you!"

It was actually an exciting battle, Bianca started off strong with a Take Down and followed with Heat Crash, Pikachu actually got slammed hard but he still got up. Bianca then tried to end it with a Flame Charge but Pikachu's Volt Tackle was just stronger.

"Woah Ash you really are strong," she conceded.

"Thanks," I began, "you were pretty strong yourself I-"

"I wonder if you're strong if any other regards," she said thoughtfully, that caught me off guard, I began to sweat nervously, did she say 'strong in another regards?'!

"Wait, Bianca… What do you mean by that…?" I am really fearing her answer right now, I'M TOO YOUNG ARCEUS FOR THAT! Please no…

"I mean your muscles silly," she giggled, as if I had completely missed the point. Whew, at least she didn't mean that kind of strong. At this realization I couldn't help but smile with relief, but in the back of my mind… I swore I could feel two pairs of eyes, one originating from a ginger haired girl, and a pair from a purple one… I felt a hand on my shoulder, oh no. I turned around to coming face to face with Misty.

"Whatcha doing Ash?" she asked, in a way that wasn't threatening yet was at the same time!

"Um… Congratulating Bianca on a great battle?"

"I see," Misty's eyes narrowed as she said that. "Say, we should battle next time, and no rain checks got it?! You're going to battle me and like it!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" I shuddered. "I agree to battle you 100% next class!" Boy… Misty can be really persuasive when she wants to be.

"Good, that's settled," she smiled. I tell you her tone just shifted from icy to sweet! Somehow that's not a good sign. She then helped me up and soon Mr. Lance began to call off any ongoing battles…

I'm in fourth class now, aka boring old English with Ms. Shauntal, and grammar like no one ever could… Ugh, I hate even the thought of walking there. I'd like to say walking to her class right now was boring but Iris is currently following me to class like a hawk!

"Apple, Ash?" Good grief she's fast! I close my eyes for like half a second and what was originally a distance of four yards between us closed quickly!

"Thanks, I guess I am pretty hungry," I said, rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment since my stomach did grumble I suppose. I took the apple and began munching on it, it was pretty sweet and ripe, can't let this go to waste right?

"Battling that airhead Bianca must've made you tired huh?" she continued. "Say, need a back massage kid?"

Kid… Ah great… Wait - back massage? Things in this harem are just getting weirder and weirder! Did Leaf see any of this? Is this her idea of 'good moments'?! Cause I'm not sure myself about all of this… "Um, sure… I am a little tense Iris. That'd be great."

"Excellent," Iris said. Y'know, I heard Iris is like some kind of Dragon Warrior or something similar to that extent, but the 'massage' she gave was like some kind of beat up! She was shoving her elbows into my spine and pushing her fists into various points, in the end in actually did make me feel better, but also left me shaking…Love really hurts.

We walked into class, Iris seemed keen to sit next to me, but Ms. Shauntal stopped her, "Sorry Iris, um, can I ask that you sit over there?" Ms. Shauntal pointed towards the table in the middle of the three rows.

"Not a problem Ms. Shauntal," Iris said, eyes twitching and her face was… Awkward? Strained… I can't tell honestly. Ms. Shauntal looked satisfied and returned to her desk. Iris looked disappointed at this, but then turned back to me and started grumbling about the command. "Y'know," she whispered, "I have a feeling she's only doing that so one – she can keep an eye on me. And two – to keep me from escaping class."

"Sorry you have to deal with that stuff," I replied in sympathy. We parted ways and I went to go sit near the wall opposite the windows. "Ugh, English sucks," I muttered. Then, a certain perky blue haired girl hopped into the frame.

"Hiya Ash!" she chirped, sitting down next to me, and instantly leaned in to my face?! This blue haired girl was so close I could feel the heat from her body on mine; I guess my assumption about the tone of her voice implying she saw me as more than a friend from this morning did prove true. Anyways I figure this'll be a norm with having a harem so I quickly calmed down, I mean come on, she is just being friendly right?

"Hi Pikachu," Dawn went on, "are you hungry sweetie?"

Oh crumbs! During that cat fight while lunch was happening I forgot like me that Pikachu hadn't eaten all of his food. "Pi-Pika!" he said, I knew he was saying yes.

"Pikachu," I muttered sadly, "I'm sorry buddy, guess with everything going on I kind of forgot about food y'know?" I said, rubbing my head.

"No need to worry," Dawn said. "Things did get a little out of control during lunch, guess my Mom is right about my jealousy issues, haha!" I couldn't help smirking at that remark and laughed a little with her. I think out of the corner of my eyes I saw her blush with contentment.

"Anyways here you go Pikachu," she held out some poffins in her hand and gave them to him to which he chaed happily. She then called her Piplup out and fed it its share of poffins, to which Piplup looked very happy at this. Then Ms. Shauntal walked to the front of the room and class began…

English class like I said is a snooze fest. All Ms. Shauntal did was assign a reading to us for a few chapters to do over the weekend and went into talking about plots and stuff. Ugh, what'd I'd do to be at home right now. Class would've been as boring as it was yesterday, but at times Dawn every now and then tried leaning in towards me, I decided to let it happen, but each time Ms. Shauntal would look in her direction and Dawn would straighten up.

All the while I'm just growing even more bored than ever, I… I think I'm dozing off. I fell into a state in my hand, I'm losing track of time, whatever…

"Ash… Um… Ash, Ash?," came a whisper. I opened my eyes, but instead of feeling the abrasiveness of my gloves, I was on Dawn's bare left shoulder! Breathing onto it too! What the heck I need to get off as calmly as I could but man, I'm blushing right now, dude, how did I fall asleep on a girls shoulder so easily?! I quickly removed myself and straightened out, sweat dropping.

It took me a moment to realize that luckily Ms. Shauntal had stopped lecturing and instead was handing out papers. It was five minutes till the end of class, and by extension end of the school day.

Going back to my current predicament, Dawn was looking at me with a weird look in her eyes, she also blushing, not that I was surprised considering what I was doing. It was a bit of a surprised look that also made it clear Dawn hadn't minded it either. "Heh heh… Sorry about that Dawn, I guess this class just really puts me into a daze you know?" I said, trying to chuckle it off.

"Um… That's alright," Dawn said softly, "I suppose it was better than letting your head fall onto the table."

"Wait, did you put my head on your shoulders?" Okay, I was not expecting that!

"Not really, I saw your hand giving way and I moved a little to catch you," she said, the redness coming back, man why is that just the teensiest bit attractive? "But you were like that for at least five minutes so I needed to wake you up. But no need to worry! It's fine, really!" she said, recovering from her previous state, now she's back to being her spritely self again.

I smiled, glad to have that awkward moment past, but then I heard a light chuckle as Ms. Shauntal excused us to leave and the other kids began packing up.

I looked around and saw behind me, Drew! Oh great, he must've seen it all happen didn't he? Dawn skipped away, but Drew walked up to me till we drew side to side. "Well Ash," he snickered. "So what Barry did say was true. Getting to be a ladies man huh? Strange considering you talked to zero last year, minus the teachers of course."

I groaned, I suppose I ought to explain how this all started. So I told him about Leaf and the fortune and the events after as quickly as a crash course in something could get. By the end we were outside the school campus and he was nodding.

"So… Those rumors about Leaf's fortune telling skills are true," he said. "Well Ash my man, if you need dating advice…." I growled at him, who asked him anyways?! "You know where to find me," and with that Drew put his hands in his pockets and walked away into the shaking tree's dancing in the wind. Ugh, now I have him on my case with this harem. All I want to do now is go home and start on tomorrow's homework, or what little I have…

But as I began to head home, I head a crunch of some twigs I avoided being stepped on… I whipped around to find Serena looking shocked and nervous now that I was looking at her dead on.

"Oh hey!" I called in my friendliest way. No need to be awkward about this… Right? "What brings you here following me?" I went on.

Serena's expression softened and she reached behind her into her skirt pocket and produced a bag and held it out to me. "These are for you," she said. "I made these this morning for some friends and thought you may like some. Never had the chance to give them to you till now," she admitted.

I took the bag and opened it, wondering what was inside, I pulled out what looked like a Nilla cookie, but it was different seeing as it seemed homemade. She smiled at me, hinting I should try it. Well, I am hungry, here goes…

It was so good! Sure, May's cookies taste nice but these are great! I reached in and began eating more, Serena, satisfied that I liked it said her goodbyes and said she had to get home.

I too began to walk home, I could help but think, Leaf was right, there are some good things to all of this, good looking girls and free food. But the competing… Oh man, this is going to be a long road…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: To note I first of all did obtain permission from IchigoHatake to use her original concept over on Wattpad (you can check there to see how I actually wanted to format this story, same title n' everything). Secondly if haven't make sure you visit my profile page to cast votes. IF you can't see them please let me know. I'll try to leave them here as well as they're Strawpoll links so I suppose you could also just paste the numbers in :P :

The winner: .me/12641059

Most teased (not the winner but gentle teasing of potential): .me/12641116