"Pokespeech"

"Pokedex"

It wasn't too long after they had left the Pokémon Tech school when Ash stopped suddenly at the rock just in front of him, causing Brock to bump into him.

"What's wrong Ash."

Ash pointed at the rock, his arm quivering, atop the rock was a charmander, but instead of looking around at them it was laying, far too still. As Ash got closer, he felt like he was going to throw up, the poor charmander's tail had almost gone out. It was barely a flicker. On top of that, its skin covered in scars, and ribs clearly visible

"bulbasaur, sleep powder." Ash made the decision right then to make sure the charmander wouldn't fight as he threw a pokeball, sighing in relief as it dinged.

"What kind of person hurts a pokemon?" He asked, looking to Brock

"Well we don't know it was a person. He could have gotten those scars from battling."

"But you saw how thin he was. Someone's been starving him, and probably beating him. Who...Why?"

"I don't know Ash, but let's get Charmander to the Pokecenter. We'll probably never find the person who did this."

It was with sad steps that Ash finally came to the Pokemon center to have his pokemon healed. He knew even as he watched Nurse Joy contact the league and then Professor Oak to make sure that charmander hadn't been his to begin with that the charmander was even worse off than he expected, and when he asked Joy had grimly told Ash that they did not expect charmander to make it through the night. Ash slid into a booth as he waited, looking around the center as he did so. His eyes rested on a young man with short blue hair sitting at a table with a bunch of pokeballs in front of him.

"You sure have a lot of pokemon huh Damien?"

"Yeah it's an impressive collection isn't it?"

"Hey, I thought you had a charmander too?"

"Yeah I had a charmander, but the stupid thing was so weak it lost to the weakest opponents."

"So what did you do with it?"

"I left it out on a rock in the woods and said I'd be back for it, and the stupid thing actually believed me. Its probably still there on that rock."

Ash curled his hand into a fist, staring over to Damien, but he two hands on his shoulders, turning he saw Brock and Misty holding him back.

"Let us deal with this." Misty said,

Ash nodded, they must have something planned.

"Excuse me, Damien was it?" Brock asked

"Who wants to know?"

"I'm Brock Slate, former gym leader for Pewter City. This is Misty Waterflower, former gym leader for Cerulean City. I am formally announcing a complaint of Pokémon abuse."

"What? You have no proof!"

"You just admitted in front of two gym leaders that you abandoned a Pokémon. My friend found that Pokémon. It's being treated by Nurse Joy now. If it dies, you will be found guilty of murder."

"You can't do that!"

"Do you want to bet little boy?" Misty asked, looking furious, "You might not have known this, but a gym leader's word is like law. If I tell Officer Jenny about what you said, and show her the pictures that Nurse Joy took of that Charmander...Well let's just say it doesn't look good for you."

"Then I won't let you! Go Gyrados!"

Misty laughed even as she called out her Starmie, "You have sealed your own fate. Thunder that trainer Starmie."

Damien dropped like a rock and so did his Gyrados, "You attacked me! That isn't allowed!"

"I told you idiot, we gym leaders are like the law, and in this case, the law has decided that you are a shitty human being that doesn't deserve to be called a trainer. When Officer Jenny gets here I am recommending that your trainers license be taken and your Pokémon redistributed."

When Officer Jenny arrived, she did exactly as Misty threatened, leaving all of Damiens Pokeballs in Misty's hands as she loaded him into the van.

"So what are you going to do with all of his Pokémon?"

"I think I know a gym leader and a trainer that deserve them far more than he does." She said looking at Brock and Ash

The icing on the cake though was as he was looking at the Pokémon he'd decided to keep of Damien's, Nurse Joy had come out to tell him that Charmander was doing fine now, and that he could see him.

Charmander was sitting on the bed, facing the window, looking like he wanted to leave, "Hey Charmander, sorry about capturing you, but if I hadn't you'd probably have died."

"Mander." it said sadly, pointing towards the direction of the rock

"Damien left you there to die. He was never coming back for you."

"MANDER!" the charmander scratched at him

"Bulbasaur, you tell him."

"That boy, why did he capture me? I have to stay on the rock. I have to wait for Damien. He promised to come back! He promised"

"I know how you feel. My first trainer, I was the pokemon given to him as his starter. We made it all the way to Misty and I thought we'd never part. Then, then I lost to that Starmie of hers. The next thing I know my trainer is kicking me for loosing. Then she broke my pokeball under her foot. Told me that if I was too weak to defeat a water type then I was too weak to be on her team."

"What did you do?"

"I became a protector in the valley where she dumped me until this kid came along. Now, he is my trainer."

"But how can you trust him? How can you trust any trainer?"

"Can't you feel it? There is something about this trainer, something that makes him special."

Charmander looked up at Ash, who smiled down at him, there was indeed something special he could feel, and although he didn't know what it was, he knew he wanted to travel with this trainer.

End chapter

This time i didn't kill off charmander. I reread this and decided it was too sad. On the one hand in the actual episode it was discussed that charmander could die if it's flame went out and I guess the writers of the show didn't want to traumatize young children by actually killing it off. But on the other hand, it would have been a great opportunity for the shows writers to talk about death and how to handle it. Just something to think about. On a happier note, now because of the rule I threw in about Ash getting to keep damiens pokemon he now has his third randomized teammate as well as some others. Had to pause Netflix at just the right time to count Damiens pokeballs. How come he's allowed to have ten on his person by the way? also I had to change a few things due to Misty and Brock being there this time around.

Damien's pokemon

Gyrados (female): Dragon Rage, Bite, ice fang, surf (Misty took this one)

Nidoran Female: Double Kick, Poison sting, scratch, focus energy (Ash took this one)

Abra: teleport (Ash took this one)

Nidoran Male: Poison sting, tackle, double kick, focus energy (Brock took this one)

Charmander (male): Dragon rage (not unclocked), rage (not unlocked), scratch, flamethrower, ember (ash got this one)

Shellder (Male): aurora beam, iron defense, surf, (Misty took this one)

Fearow (Male): fly, peck, drill run, mirror move (Brock took this one)

Paras (Female): Spore, Fury cutter, scratch, focus energy (Ash took this one)

Bellsprout (female): Wrap, sleep powder, vine whip, acid (Misty took this one)

Geodude (male): Mega Punch, rollout, rock throw, defense curl (Brock took this one)

Kabutops (male) : still a fossil so no moves yet (Brock took this one)