The Hunchback of Lumiose Cathedral: A OC/Pokemon/Amourshipping story

Chapter 3

On the other side of the city, people and Pokemon were entering Lumiose City for the festival. Among those entering the main gate was a man in his mid-twenties with messy raven hair, brown eyes, and z-marks on his cheeks. He was dressed in blue-and-white armor hidden by his cloak, and a Pikachu was standing on his left shoulder. The man looked around with a bright smile, took a deep breath through his nose, and let it out with an "Ah."

"Do you smell that, Pikachu?" He asked. "That's the smell of home. Five years of fighting, and here we are as though we never left."

"Pikachu!" His Pikachu replied.

The man giggled with his mouth closed and said, "Right. Now that we're back, we just gotta get to the Palace of Justice, and I'll show dad that I'll be the best lieutenant Minister Markenel could ask for."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed.

The raven-haired man smirked and walked down the road with his head held high while his Pokemon held on to his shoulder, but after half a minute, his proud demeanor faded away, and he slowed down to a halt.

"Uh, how do we get to the Palace of Justice from here?"

Pikachu turned to its partner, dumbfounded while the man scratched his cheek. The mouse Pokemon was embarrassed that its friend never thought that he could have forgotten where to go after being away for so long. The raven-haired man chuckled nervously and looked around until he saw an old fisherman with short gray hair sitting on the edge of a bridge with a fishing rod. He walked over to the fisherman and tapped his shoulder, startling the older man.

"Huh? Who? What? Wazza?" The fisherman said.

"Excuse me. Sorry to bother you," The raven-haired man said.

The fisherman turned to the raven-haired man and his Pikachu and asked, "Who are you?"

"My name's Ash, and this is my partner, Pikachu," The raven-haired man replied.

"Pikachu," Pikachu said.

"Ah, pleased to meet you. I'm Rodman," the fisherman said with a friendly smile. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for the Palace of Justice," Ash answered.

"Are you now?" Rodman said. "In that case, just keep going down the main road until you make your way through the marketplace and then take a left. Just keep going straight until you get to the palace from there. You can't miss it."

"Great. Thanks," Ash said.

"My pleasure. Take care now," Rodman said.

"You too," Ash said as he walked away and turned to Pikachu. "Take a left past the marketplace and keep going straight. Sounds easy enough. We should be there earlier than Dad's expecting us."

"Pikachu," Pikachu agreed.

Thus, the raven-haired soldier walked down the road with his confident demeanor back. Eventually, Ash and Pikachu made it to the marketplace and began squeezing their way through the crowd of people and Pokemon.

Halfway through the marketplace; however, Ash heard the sound of a horn and a tambourine. Curious, he walked closer to where he listened to the music until he found a large group of people gathered around in a half-circle around the corner of a building. Ash squeezed his way through until he was at the front of the circle, and he and Pikachu stared in awe at what everyone was watching.

A scrawny man with a curly goatee was sitting on a stool, playing a horn. In front of him was a purple hat lying upside down with a couple dozen coins inside. A Chatot stood above the wall, looking around the area with caution.