Having gotten a great sleep thanks to the girls actions against Mienshao only two major threats remained so far in Ash's mind. The necromancer and the drug dealer would've gotten word of their actions by now. They hoped one of them would give up or make a mistake into revealing himself. The purple cloud coming from the death sorcerer it may be a sign he's getting nervous. All five of the heroes had snooped around the old sawmill that the man possessed spoke about but there was nothing there of value anymore.
Even from upstairs in his room he heard the doorbell ring. A lot of unwanted visitors these days he cracked his knuckles as he headed down to punch the person lights out if he or she isn't welcome here. Looking through the spyglass on the door Ash saw one of the guys who were with him when Spiritomb attacked.
"Hey Brock." The aspiring doctor looked worried about Ash.
"Hey Ash. You alright?" Not having seen Ash yesterday at all Brock had a suspicion about him. His mother said Ash went shopping for groceries but he couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to Ash then it seemed. After sleeping over it for a night or two it might just be sheer coincidence but you'll never know.
"Shopping took a bit longer then expected but I got the note from mom. How's Kenny?"
"Bit shook, still pissed. He's still waiting to finish where we left off."
"We better get it over with before something else happens again." Ash joked as he grabbed his bag with his Greninja outfit. Locking the door cause his mom was at work as he and Brock walked to the maid café which normally from his house is about a 15 minute walk. Brock started off with the small talk.
"I gotta ask. We're planning on a big party this Saturday. Barry's parents are out of town so we got the house to ourselves."
"The curfew is still in effect. I don't think the police will allow us to party."
"The curfew wants us to stay inside. The party lasts all weekend so we won't go outside at all."
Brock and the guys have been thinking about it. You weren't allowed to go out after a certain time but it didn't say you weren't allowed to have a bunch of guests in a massive sleepover. Ash having all his excuses ready took the easiest one. No time for parties he needed to go patrol with Riley and the girls to find their targets. Celebrations will come afterwards.
"Is Kenny going? I don't think he wants me there and I don't want to make things awkward." Thinking Brock's teammate has more right to be there he never knew how it would end today. When they last left off he pinned Kenny to a wall in self defense.
"He won't be able to come."
"Can't make it myself then." Ash said which raised more suspicion on Brock's side. As far as he knows Ash never went anywhere to party or go clubbing with a fake ID since they were still underage for drinking and driving by themselves.
"Why?" Brock dug a little deeper.
"A friend of moms workplace wants to move out of town and she asked if I can help. I already gave her my word so unfortunately no."
"Shame you can't come again. You got to make one of our parties eventually."
"Ready to go?" Ash asked as Brock nodded.
At the location the two were heading the third member of the conversation was already waiting for them. Not the first time he's been here Kenny looked around the diner either way. Waitresses dressed up in a combination of white and black were serving the customers. Having gotten a table near the window he ordered three water to start off with for when Ash and Brock would get here.
Some of the patrons held an eye out for the waitresses but Kenny didn't care as he had his mind set on one girl who wasn't here. Dawn, his childhood friend, sometimes partner for school projects, his almost girl next door, often cheerleader during his games and most importantly the girl he crushed on. What he wouldn't give to make her happy and to see her smile.
"Hi Kenny." Hearing his name spoken in a feminine voice he peeked up. Dressed in a light pink coat, with a black undershirt, black stockings and brown boots with fluffy dangling coming off them she always made an effort to look good. It was just another thing he liked about her.
"Dawn?" Genuinely shocked to see her she stood by his table.
"Shouldn't you be at school right now?" He, Brock and Ash were relieved from it but the same can't be said for her. She took out a note from one of her pockets.
"I'm skipping it after what happened to you and Ash. I needed to know how you were doing." Concerned for their sake she owed him a check up.
"Won't you get into trouble?" Kenny worried about her.
"Mom knows I want this and wrote me a fake dentist note I've just been too." It took some convincing on Johanna's side but the mother was persuadable in the end since it happened to her as well when she was Dawn's age.
"Can I sit here?" Kenny nodded as Dawn put her bag next to her on the plush seats she eyed him.
"How did you know I'd be here?" Dawn swallowed a lump cause it might hurt Kenny.
"Ash told me." Seeing Kenny's face contort she understood his reaction. She contacted Ash before him. It told him she was worried more about him cause she didn't even send a text in how he was doing. The waitress came and set down the three water in a glass on the table. Kenny thanked her but ordered one more as he didn't count on her being here.
"Listen to what I have to say first before you talk." Dawn took a sip from her water and a deep breath.
"You're a really great friend and I appreciate and cherish our friendship ever since we were little. And I'm glad you think about me the way you do. I don't want to lose our friendship."
It was confirmation of what he feared. Just a friend.
"I learned something from mom and Lyla recently. They were quite popular with the boys when they were younger being models and had to learn to say no with all those date requests they got. They told me that if a guy shows a liking to you which you don't want, nip it in the bud as quickly as you can before it can grow." A half truth of some sort since Dawn can use her internship as a cover for her true activities.
"I made a mistake with you. I wasn't perceptive enough when you came to ask me for prom and for more then that, I didn't think about your feelings enough. I'm sorry. If I had realized it sooner I'd stopped it before we got to this point. Your fight with Ash is my fault. I'm taking full responsibility for what happened to you three. I wasn't quick enough to stop you from crushing on me and I nearly caused you, Ash and Brock to get killed on the school roof because of it."
Dawn having said her words Kenny didn't know what to think. She was honest about her feelings for him which were only on a platonic level. He felt envy rise in him again. As much as she try he couldn't just let it go to the one who snatched her away.
"Do you even like him? Ash."
"Does it matter?" She didn't wanted to break his heart even more by admitting she always crushed on Ash but hadn't made her move yet.
"Why? You have no trouble telling another guy you don't like him." Referring to himself, Dawn's blush was faint but still noticeable.
"Why him? What does he got that I don't?"
"It's difficult. Ash is Ash."
"So better than me." Dawn heard the disappointment and anger in his voice.
"He's not better than you. How do I go on from this?" Hitting a roadblock she tried to find the right words.
"You both are different. You're a better basketball player than him." Trying to compliment Kenny to get him out of this depression it didn't work.
Suddenly a loud yelling happened in the café. The waitresses begged the disturbers to calm down and think about the rest of the customers. The group ignored them as they continued to move around as if they own the place course wolf whistling to the waitresses.
"Who do they think they are?" Dawn started to get increasingly annoyed at the group ready to give them a piece of her mind. They all wore matching cream colored jackets and baggy pants and seemed like a group of punks with bracelets and hairstyles to match.
"Look what we got here boys!" One of them saw Kenny and Dawn at the table. Moving up from his seat he bumped on purpose into other people.
"We got some fellow truancers here."
"It's truancies! Don't use fancy words if you can't say it!" Another yelled at him through the café.
"We don't want any trouble. Just let us go and we'll forget about this." Kenny wanted to go not to mess with them.
"Listen to this dude. That's not how this works. You come on our turf, you get to pay toll. Hand over those bags and we'll make it painless."
The punk slammed his hand on the table startling others but Dawn who started to lose it. She grabbed her glass of water and threw it in his face. His comrades laughed at the girls actions as this is going to get fun. Kenny tried to grab Dawn's wrist to stop but she forced herself out of it standing up for herself.
"I have a conversation with my friend here. How about you leave us and these hard working people alone?" The punk that got his face wet wiped it off with his sleeve.
"Should've listened bitch." He threw a heavy punch which Dawn easily saw coming. Moving her body to the side and catching the swing she took the back of his head and slammed it right against the edge of the table. The punk grasping his head in agony his three friends got up the table they'd taken possession of.
A can of soda broke apart on ones head spilling the drink all over their clothes. Ash and Brock seeing the scene Ash grabbed a nearby can of soda and threw it with relentless force at ones head. The other two punks looked at the direction it came from.
"Nice arm!" Dawn said to him happy he got here.
"You get the girl! I'll cut him up!" The two remaining punks separated to go after the two that attacked them. The one moving to Ash reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flip knife.
"Look out Brock!" Ash pushed Brock aside so only he was close to the guy with the knife. The punk made a thrust motion but Ash caught him by the wrist and then in a flash broke his wrist making him drop the weapon before slamming his fist into the side of the punks head. Dawn meanwhile got a hold of the guys arm who wanted to hit her and moved around him. Kicking him square in the back of the head he fell over like a lump of bricks collapsing on top of the guy that tried to hit her before.
The two were applauded by all the customers and staff. The waitresses called the police and were on their way to pick up the four delinquents to the station.
"Sorry for the mess." Dawn apologized for the wet stains she and Ash made.
"It's ok. We'll make sure to get extra security. Next time." One of the waitresses told her as Ash went to her.
"Shouldn't you be at school?" She flashed her note to the boys.
"Shouldn't have told her we were going to be here."
Meanwhile Kenny and Brock were stunned. They know Ash had some training but Dawn herself never showed anything like it. They left the café trying to find an easier and calmer spot to talk.
"How did you learn how to do that?" Kenny asked Dawn about her ability to beat people up.
"So remember my mom and Lila being models? With all the men trying to ask them ask out and touch them they learned a bit of self defense. Mom taught me some of those tricks as well recently."
"Ok." Kenny accepted the lie but Brock found it hard not to be suspicious of anyone new or who can throw a good punch. Particularly after their display at the café which was handled with ease.
"Who were they?" Brock asked as they walked away, Ash knew.
"From their jackets with the logo on the back they're Scraggy's. They're a gang of delinquents that dropped out of school causing disturbances and try to be a real gang." Riley had multiple encounters with them during a few cases he did while Ash was in school. They weren't that much of a danger but a minor nuisance in the grand scale of things.
"And how do you know about these guys?" Brock asked Ash.
"I read the crime section in the papers a lot after me and mom got attacked home. If you know what you're dealing with it's easy to prepare."
He wasn't prepared for Dawn to be included with his talk with Kenny and Brock. And he had a good feeling it he wasn't going to be able to send her away to let them do the talking like boys.
See you around.