Kenedy asked, "Mind if we can have some karaage?"

" Sure, why not?" Ashihiro replied. He pulled up to the counter. Some nerdy Japanese guy was taking the orders. "Two bowls of BBQ pork ramen please?"

"Toppings?" he asked.

"Soft-boiled egg, cilantro, scallon, cabbage, and spicy sauce," Ashihiro replied. "I also want some chicken karaage, some gyōza, some onion rings, and some shrimp tempura."

"I want eggs, cabbage, onion, and bean sprouts," Kennedy requested. 

"Would you like some Kewpie mayo with any of this?"

"I want some," Kennedy said.

inutes later, Kennedy and Ashihiro received their food. Ashihiro ate one of his onion rings. "That's some real ummi. Mom always bought these any  time she came here. He then started eating his ramen. "They stacked my bowl with a lotta chashu!"

"Mine melted in my mouth," Kennedy said, his mouth full."

"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full., Kennedy. Anyways, try the karaage; it's full of spice!"

Kennedy took a pice of fried chicken. "Spicy! I could taste the umami. I could even taste the garlic as well." He dipped said piece of meat in the Kewpie mayonnaise. "You should dip the chicken in the mayo."

"I'd rather not; I hate mayo." Ashihiro dipped an onion ring in some chili paste. "You like chili paste?

Kennedy dipped the chicken in his cup of chili paste. "Smoky AND spcy."

The cashier with black-rimmed glasses came to their table. "Anything to drink? Our drink of the day is sakura lemonade."

"We'll take two," Ashihiro replied. "But on mine, I don't want any ice."

"Gotcha. It'll be right out."

"So, Ashihiro. I have a Jolly Arcanine. What moves should I give it?"

"Flare Blitz, Extremespeed, Thunder Fang, and Close Combat. Close Combat counters against Rock-types; Thunser Fang counters against Water-types. I'd also give it the Muscle Band."

"Hmmm. What does the Muscle Band do?" Ken asked in his African accent as he picks up a couple dumpings and eats them both. 

"It boost physical moves by 30%." Ashihiro takes the last onion ring and dipped in some chili paste. 

"Now what about my Timid Serperior? It has Contrary, and its Tera Type is Rock."

"Go with Tera Bladt, Dragon Pulse, ?Leaf Storm, and Leaf Tornado, and give it the Wise Glasses. The Wise Glssses boosts Special Attack moves by 30%. You can also give it the Choice Specs. It boost Special Attack by 50%, but it only allows you to select the first move being used." Ashihiro eats a piece of karaage chicken. 

"I don't like Choice Items."

Believe me; I don't like them either. Now for some tempura." He ate a shrimp. "What do you wanna do when we get home?"

"Hmmmm. Wanna watch Pokémon? I wanna see if Rika won against Liko."

"Sure. But before we do, we should get ice cream. I do want some chocolate." Ashihiro ate another shrimp.  "How about a McFlurry?"

"Sure. I want Oreo!" Kennedy drank some of his lemonade. "Lemonade tastes sweet. Wonder what sugar they use?"

"They use cane sugar." Ashihiro did a little sip of his. "You can't drink it down like any regular lemonade."

Kennedy sighed. "You still have that dream of being an MMA fighter?"

"I do. I'm going to the Asian Dragons Gym next week. I wanna be the next Tony Ferguson."

"MFerguson has 8 straight losses," the young, black kid pointed out. "Are you sure you wanna be like him?"

'Oh, right... I wanna be the next Shavkat."

"Sounds much better." Kennedy took another piece of chicken and ate it. "He is undefeated. But how are you gonna reach that feat?"

"I don't know. We'll see." Ashihiro ate his ramen. "You should eat your noodles before they get soggy. The appetizers will survive the dinner.

"Okay." He took a piece of pork chashu and gobbled it down. "You think I could be an MMA fighter as well?"

"Never too late to learn -- unless you're old and not limber." He wiped some cilantro off his face. "You might be the next Alex Pereira."

"That guy's scary!" Kennedy laughed, eating some of his ramen. "I don't wanna be scary..."

"So, like Stephen Thompson or something?" Ashihiro ate a soft-boiled egg. 

"Who's that?"

"He's one of the nicest MMA fighters. He'd still destroy almost anyone in a fight. He's a nice guy, kinda like a Gallade when it's not battling." He ate some more noods.

Adara sent Ashihiro a text. "Hi, honey. Where are you?"

"Hold on." He texted back, "I'm at Ramen Hut. Need something?"

"Just bored."

"Just meet us at McDonald's. Kennedy and I are getting McFlurrys when we get done eating here."

"I'll be there. I want a McFlurry myself."

"They have Ores and Smarties McFlurrys. Take your pick -- it's on me."

"I want Oreo," Adara texted him back.

"Ok. See you there," he texted back. He hung up. "Anyways, where were we...? Oh! Stephen Thompson."

"I wanna be the nice, humble guy," Kennedy said, starry-eyed. 

"It's hard to be humble in this world. There will always be people who'll test your gangsta, be it saying or doing stuff to get under your skin."

"Awwww... Why can't people get along?" Kennedy ate the last of his ramen. 

"i don't know, Kennedy. I don't know. You'll see why when you get in the real world and deal with different kinds of people. People are idiots."

"You're not an idiot."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Ashihiro replied, eating the last of his noodles.