Pokemon High School (AshxHarem)

The Salon Maiden's Call

3rd Person POV

After the school day had ended, Ash began his walk back to school with May and Dawn. Hilda had to go for some after school meeting and insisted that they not wait for her. During their walk, Ash noticed something was off.

He hadn't brought Pikachu like usual, he would be able to figure out what was going on, or Lucario. Suddenly, Ash stopped in his tracks, something was definitely following them, and he didn't know what.

"You guys go on ahead, I need to do something really quick" he said and walked into the woods without waiting for a response. He knew whatever was following him would follow him into the woods. If it was following the girls, he could easily figure out who was following and intervene.

Once he realized that the weird feeling seemed to follow him, he realized that he was on the one being followed. Once he felt that he was far enough into the forest, he did a quick 180 and gazed on his surroundings.

The bush on the left rustled and he quickly zoned onto it.

"Come out now, or you'll be out once you're burning alive" Ash ordered coldly.

The bush rustled again, and out came a familiar purple haired Psychic Battle Frontier Brain.

"Anabel?" Ash asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I need to talk to you" she deadpanned. "It's important."

"Wait, how'd you do that weird thing that you did?"

Anabel's Espeon walked out next to her trainer, sitting down at her feet.

"Espeon can manipulate what people can and cannot see, but I don't know how you managed to realize that I was following you."

"Spending a lot of time with the Aura Pokemon helps, anyway, what did you want with me?" Ash said back.

"Scott needs your help. The Battle Frontier's been attacked. Brandon and several other Brains left to help with a situation in Sinnoh and they can't make it back. The G-Men are starting to get outnumbered, and they need reinforcements."

"Why me?" Ash asked, but he knew why and he had already made up his mind.

"You're our honorary Frontier Brain. The Battle Frontier is just as much yours as it's ours."

It was true, after Ash had beaten the Battle Frontier, he had rejected Scott's offer of becoming a full time Frontier Brain. But, he had accepted to become an Honorary Brain for challengers who had beaten the others and were deemed by Scott to be good enough to battle Ash. And indeed, Ash had several battles with many competent trainers, and he would travel to Kanto almost every month for another battle. But Ash always thought about Scott's original offer.

Ash remembered the day well. However, there was a secret that he never told anyone about, something that he had pondered about several times during his journey.

Ash had really wanted to become a Frontier Brain. In fact he he would've accepted, if it wasn't for one problem. At this point in Ash's journey, he had participated in 3 Leagues and had not come exactly close to winning one. His confidence and motivation were at an all time low, and May had asked Ash to participate in the Battle Frontier as a way of bringing back some of that confidence.

The journey in Kanto had just done that. His confidence in his skill as a Trainer was restored, and it seemed right to him to become a Brain and give back to the place that had ended up giving him so much.

But, it was May, Brock, and Max who caused him to decline the offer. They hadn't told him to reject the offer, they would've supported him no matter what he did, but Ash couldn't bear leaving them for the sake of his own selfishness.

Moreover, this was around the time when Ash had fully come to terms with his feelings for May, and he couldn't fathom leaving her then, likely to not see her again for a long time. So, he decided to continue his journey, and everything until now was based off that one decision.

Ash knew that Anabel had wanted Ash to become a Brain, the two had become close in the 6 months he had spent in Kanto. But, Ash had to pick and he had made his choice. He felt had felt really bad about it, especially when he saw Anabel's face after he rejected the offer. He had tried to apologize to her when the two enrolled at the school, but she had joined the popular kids' clique to get away from him. It surprised Ash that she walked up to him now to talk to him, she almost never made eye contact anymore, even when he came to the Battle Frontier to battle a challenger. The other Brains convinced him that she would come around, but she never did.

It had hurt Ash that Anabel would go to such lengths to stay away from him, and he never understood why, even until now. Maybe during their next few days in Kanto, he'd get a chance to figure out why.

"Alright then, who're the dumbasses who decided to mess with the Frontier?"

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A/N: Yo two updates in one day, ain't no way. Also I made this part up on the spot so the chapters from 2 years ago might not fully incorporate into this, but let's be honest, which one of you guys actually remembers what happened? Cuz I don't. 900 words cyaaaaaaaa.