Chapter 2 - The hooded manWith a badge in hand Lucca is not shy to boast about it "yeah, I might have had an advantage, but Barry took that Geodue out in ten seconds flat".
Ash smirks and finds his pokéball "Bulbasaur and I are gonna do it in five, just you wait and see", he runs around circling the others until Lori lets out a sigh.
"But didnt it feel a little too easy?", she asks "even I, with Charmander won in one attack… and fire is not very effective against any of Brocks pokémon".
"Just soak the victory in", Ash assures her "you won fair and square and you should be proud of that, that Charmander of yours is seriously strong".Lori sighs "yeah, it's probably nothing", she says as they return to the hotel to relax.
At nightfall the three of them are discussing, battle tactics for Ashupcoming battle."We dont know what pokémon Brock is gonna use", Lucca starts as they look at the moves.
Bulbasaur can use "we can't just expect him to go easy on you too", they find a book of all the rock-type pokémon in Kanto and gives it to Ash "look it over and make a strategy out of it, we should expect every pokémon from everybody"With a nod Ash takes the book and starts looking in it with Bulbasaur by his side.
Lori is sitting on the balcony, next to her, Charmander is sleeping soundly."
Hi", Lucca interrupts and she looks over, a faint smile on her face"Hi" she replies but looks out at the night sky, distracted."Are you still thinking about the battle?".
Lucca prods and Lori nods"It felt wrong somehow" she says and looks at Charmander "I mean Charmander did great and I am very proud of him, but how was a single attack enough to do so much damage? Onix is supposed to be his ace pokémon".
Lucca just lift their shoulders "or maybe you are just really strong", they eye Ash, deep in concentration "out of the three of us, you were always the strongest"Lori smiles
"thank you Lucca, it's nice to get a pep-talk now and then"Lucca lays a hand on her shoulder before they return back to the room to help Ash study.Later that night, when Lucca and Ash, and their pokémon are sound asleep, a hooded figure lurks around town.
He moves around without a sound as a black bird patrols the skies, its red eyes looking for potential enemies.The hooded figure comes to a stop right outside a tall building, right above him he sees a young girl looking out from a balcony and he sends the black bird towards her.
The bird screams as it attacks Lori, but Charmander slaps the bird with his tail and growls as the bird flies away once again…Lori takes a minute to relax before she and Charmander go back to the others, closing the balcony door after them.
As the bird returns it has something in its beak… a strand of black hair.
"Perfect" the man mumbles before he disappears in the night.