Very sorry I didn't upload on Thursday, it was Hallowe'en, and I thought that the chapter I needed to update for my side fic felt more like a Hallowe'en chapter than this one, so I updated that one instead. Now, I'm going back to this one. Please note, this will be another case of me doing a character in the anime kinda dirty because I don't like them. If you do like this character, and feel that this is OOC, then I do apologise, but they feel like this could be something they'd become. Plus, like I said, I don't like them. Anyway, with all of that said, here's the next chapter.
Chapter 51:
Dawn of a Stalker
It doesn't take officials to measure the cost of repairs for some of the cities and towns in the region that were affected by the eruption. Some places like Rustboro and Mauville were lightly damaged by the event, whereas other places like Lavaridge were almost completely flattened. It was very lucky indeed that Ash, May and Brendan's pokémon were able to stop the flow of the lava before it reached the bottom of the mountain. Needless to say, morale is low amongst the people of the region, especially upon learning just how much money will be needed to completely repair these cities.
Seeing this gives May an idea. A way to boost morale in the region, while also raising money to help with the repairs of all of the cities. She explains this plan to Serena, and she's all for it. With her on board, she makes a call to another friend in Sinnoh to see if she'd help out as well. This friend is also fully on board with the plan, and happily tells May that she'll be right over. With that sorted, May approaches the idea to the Contest committee, and they too are fully on board. They even offer to fund the event themselves, in order to make full use out of it. With all of this confirmed, May begins to lay out the groundwork for her plan.
It's a simple one, but one that should work wonders if done right. She wants to put on an extravagant performance on a big stage somewhere in Hoenn, preferably near Lavaridge or one of the other ruined cities. This performance will involve a combination of Coordinating and performing, and as a result will need the help of both. Those being Serena Yvonne and Dawn Berlitz, both of whom agreed to be a part of this plan. Dawn and her girlfriend Zoey are currently flying over to Hoenn right now, and Serena is working on getting some of her performance team transferred to her in Hoenn.
While all of this is going on, Max and Bonnie are waiting for Norman to return from the conference of Gym Leaders so that Bonnie can challenge him to a gym battle. While they wait, Ash takes the time to teach Bonnie how to heal people with her Aura. He agreed to do so already, but after Bonnie explained to him what happened to Max on Dewford Island, he realises that it would be an extremely good idea to teach her how to do that. Max joins them when Ash takes Bonne to a nearby field for practice. While he sits there writing in his notebook, Ash starts off his lesson for Bonnie. "So," he says, "I think the first thing I need to do is demonstrate how to do it before I get you to try it yourself." With that, he pulls out a knife. "If you're squeamish, don't look," he warns, before slicing his own hand with the knife.
Bonnie winces as Ash grunts in pain. Then, he pockets the knife and holds his hand over the wound. "Now, watch carefully," he tells her. "What you need to do is allow your Aura to flow into your hand, a bit like you're going to shoot out a pulse through it. Except this time, you need to do it as gently as possible. Let the Aura gently flow out of your hand and into the wound, like this." Then, Ash closes his eyes in concentration. The slice on his arm glows blue at this. As Bonnie watches, it begins to reseal itself, as thought she's watching it happen in reverse. After nearly a minute of this, Ash's wound closes. Bonnie smiles at this. "That seems easy enough," she comments. Ash chuckles at this. "You think so now," he says. "But remember, chances are when you try this, you'll be in a state of immense panic. You need to be extremely careful then, or else you'll shoot a pulse at the person you're trying to save." At this, Bonnie has a horrible image of her trying to heal Max, and accidently hurting him even more. She shakes the thought from her head and refocuses on Ash's lesson.
The two of them end up spending much of the afternoon at this lesson. By the time the early evening begins to roll around, Bonnie has successfully figured out how to let her Aura gently flow out of her hand rather than shoot out all at once. She wants to keep going and get started on trying to apply this to real wounds, but before she can, Ash gets a phone call. He answers it, and Bonnie can see his face brighten. "Really?" he asks. "We're on our way now. Yeah. See you in a few." Then he ends the call and pockets the phone. "Who was that?" Bonnie asks. "Serena," he replies, walking over to Max to inform him that they're leaving. "She just called to inform me that Dawn and Zoey have arrived." Bonnie gets excited at this, and the two of them fetch Max. Once Bonnie's roused him out of his Observant State, the three of them make their way back to Petalburg City to meet with their friends.
When they arrive at the airport, they find that Serena, May and Drew are already there. They join the three of them, with Ash standing next to Serena, hand in hand, while they wait for the couple to walk out of the airport. When they do, Dawn immediately runs over to May and hugs her, before doing the same to Serena. She looks a bit apprehensively at Ash, then brightens when she sees him smiling at her and opening his arms. She hugs him as well, a visible look of relief on her face. "Glad to see you're back to normal," she tells him. "You dumbass." Ash chuckles at this. "Yeah, sorry about that," he says, bashfully rubbing the back of his head. "I wasn't myself recently. But I'm better now. I've even begun to use it again." Dawn's look of relief becomes even more obvious. "Good," she says. "Because you were starting to scare me."
Their conversation is interrupted by Zoey walking up to them with both her and Dawn's bags. "Dawn my dear," she says. "Are you really going to leave your darling girlfriend to carry all of out bags?" Dawn shrugs playfully at this. "I mean, that's what all those muscles you built up over the years are for right?" she asks jokingly. Zoey laughs at this. "I suppose that's true," she says. "But that's not all they're for." Before Dawn can ask what she means, Zoey drops the bags and scoops Dawn up bridal style, before walking her towards their hotel. "WAAAAAAAAH!" Dawn cries. "Zoey! Put me down!" But Zoey ignores her, instead calling out behind her, "You guys get our stuff ok! I'll take her to our room!" Everyone laughs, then follows after the couple, with Ash laughing particularly hard at Dawn, who's resigned herself to her fate, covering her face with her hands to hide her mad blush.
After that interaction, the group decide to go and get something to eat together. May chooses the restaurant for them, and they all sit down and order. As they wait for their food, Everyone spends some time catching each other up on the goings-on in their lives. Max and Bonnie have just finished recounting their misadventure in Larousse, when Dawn suddenly stiffens. She's looking out at the streets of Petalburg, a look of horror on her face. Zoey follows her gaze and spots what she's looking at. A look of cold fury appears on her face. "What's wrong?" Drew asks. "Kenny," is all Zoey says. Ash's face immediately darkens at this, while everyone else looks at them with confusion. "Who?" May asks. But Dawn looks too nervous to answer. It's a weird sight to Max, seeing the confident and self-assured Dawn Berlitz turn into a panicky, almost scared mess.
Zoey, not taking her eye off of the boy who was causing Dawn to stress out, begins to explain. "Kenny is this old school friend of Dawn's. He had a crush on her for a while, but Dawn obviously didn't reciprocate. He told her how he felt shortly before we started going out. When he found out, he didn't take it well." Dawn shook her head at this. "At first, he started trying to convince me that I was just confused," she continues. "And I just needed to find the right guy. But lately-" She cuts herself off at this, as her eyes widen. "Here he comes!" At this, both girls duck under the table, and Ash shifts his chair, making sure to block them from view. At that moment, a teenage boy about 15 walks up to them. He's tall and thin, with brown hair that falls to his shoulders. He's got the beginnings of facial hair on his chin. He wears a green camo t-shirt and dark grey shorts.
"Hiya Ash!" he says pleasantly. "Should've guessed you'd be here." Ash looks quizzically at him. "What does that mean?" he asks. The boy shrugs. "Well, didn't May come up with the idea to do a performance to raise money for the repairs of this region?" he asks. At this, May looks really confused. "How the Mirror World did you know that?!" she asks. "We only decided on this yesterday, it hasn't even been announced!" The boy, obviously Kenny now that Max thinks about it, shrugs again. "I overheard Dawn talking about it," he tells them, which immediately sets off alarm bells in Max's head. "Say, have you seen Dawn around here? I ended up on the same plane as her when I flew over to see this show, but I lost sight of her in the crowd at the airport."
Ash tenses up at this, and Max can see a bit of anger flash in his eyes. "I haven't," he says simply. "I wasn't even aware she was coming. What do you want with her?" He says that last part dangerously quiet. most people would've immediately shut up and moved on when hearing someone speak to them like that. However, Kenny clearly isn't most people. "Oh, I just want to talk to her," he says. "I still think that she and I would work so well together. She just needs to be shown that." At this, a bump comes from underneath the table. Acting quickly, Bonnie stands up and slams her hands on the table, making it seem like she made the noise. "I'll have you know that Dawn is already in a happy relationship with Zoey!" she exclaims. "And they are adorable together! So leave them alone!"
Kenny looks quizzically at her. "But, don't you think it's a bit odd that she'd choose a girl?" he asks. "Surely you can see how weird that is? She needs to see that she's just confused. I just want to help her figure that out." Ash very nearly flies to his feet at this, fist rising. But Serena quickly puts a hand on his shoulder, and Max thinks he sees a pair of hands grab onto his ankles. "You'd better watch your Arceus-damned mouth!" he snaps. "Anymore of that talk and I'll make sure you can't use your jaw anymore!" Max is astounded to hear Ash talk like this. Kenny raises his hands in defence and backs up. "Sorry, that was rude of me," he says, before turning away. "Well, I'll be on my way then. Do let me know if you see Dawn. I think one of you will see that I'm right about this." The glares he gets from everyone on the table confirms that that isn't the case. So, he leaves them alone.
Once he's out of sight, Max bends down and whispers, "Ok, he's gone." Dawn and Zoey re-emerge from under the table, with Dawn looking relieved while Zoey fumed. "As you can see," she says, "he's begun stalking her." "How did he even hear that conversation!?" Dawn wonders. "We were in my house at the time!" Ash glares at the spot where Kenny had walked off. "That sneaky little bastard was probably listening in at the window," he comments, before turning back to face Dawn. "You never told me he was this bad." "He wasn't at first," Dawn admits. "But recently, he's begun to grow more persistent. If I'm honest, it's starting to scare me a bit." At this, Drew decides that this is none of his business, and goes to get their food. Bonnie agrees to help him. Max wants to go with them, but Bonnie quietly informs him to stay and tell her what happens, in case she gets curious.
When they're gone, Serena asks, "Do you think he'll only get worse?" Dawn shrugs. "I don't know she admits. "At first, I thought he wouldn't get any worse than ignoring my rejections and trying again. But now he's begun stalking me, so I really don't know." "With the way he's going," says Zoey worriedly, "I wouldn't be surprised if he catches a pokémon with hypnosis and tries to brainwash her into loving him." At this, everyone looks at Dawn with worried faces. Ash takes something around his neck and clasps it in his hands. It begins to glow blue for a few seconds as he pumps his Aura into it. When he's done, he hands it over to Dawn. "Take this," he says. "It's got my Aura fused into it, so it'll protect you from any brainwashing attempts." Dawn looks at the pendant with amazement, then shakes her head. "Thanks Ash," she says, "but I don't think he'd go that far. He may have gone down the road of stalking, but I don't think he'll go that far." You didn't think he'd go as far as stalking," Zoey points out. "And yet that's what he's doing now. So, if this will protect you from that, I think you should accept it."
Dawn still looks apprehensive about it, but Ash insistently holds it out to her. "Please Dawn, take it," he says. "You're a sister to me. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. So please, take it." Dawn sighs, then takes the pendant and puts it on. "Thanks Ash," she says. "And know that you're a brother to me as well." The pair smile at each other, then get excited as Drew and Bonnie return with their food. Bonnie shoots Max a look that says, "Tell me later,". He nods, then begins to eat. As everyone eats, Zoey thanks Bonnie for saving them from being discovered, and for sticking up for their relationship. Bonnie waves the thanks away. "Don't worry about it," she says. "People like that make me so mad, so how could I not say something!?" Everyone nods in agreement, before going back to their food. As she eats, Dawn leans over and nuzzles her head in Zoey's neck, a bright smile on her face. As she does, this, she's unaware of the eyes that watch the group, anger and jealousy glaring at them all, Zoey in particularly.
Yeah, so in case it wasn't clear, Kenny really annoyed me in the anime. As a result, I made him a homophobic stalker in this fic. Sorry for all the Kenny fans who are reading this, but I feel like he fits this role well. Plus, like I said, he annoyed me in the anime. Anyway, with that, I'll see you all on Tuesday for the next chapter of this fic!