Still can't figure out what Pokémon Gary has, well figure it out. It's a blue crocodile, what do you think it is? Sorry, just had to let anger out. Before I start this, I just want to tell you that I'm changing Damian's attitude because, I just wanted to see what he would be like if he wasn't as heartless like in the original.

Last time on Ash's Journey: Ash and the group were going through the forest leading to Vermillion when they found a place known as the hidden village where they met two Pokémon known as Bulbasaur and Kirla. After saving the village from Team Rocket, Ash gained Kirla's trust and she was allowed to join his team. He may have gained her trust, but has he stolen her heart without him knowing it? Let's see what other new surprises lead the way for Ash and his crew.

Ash was looking around for any Pokémon he thought that might be good to add to his team. "Nothing but Spearows, and other Pokémon I've caught." Ash groaned hoping he could at least find something.

"That is the least of our problems, come on Ash." Misty groaned annoyed at what Ash was doing.

"Look, just because we're lost, doesn't mean that I can't catch any Pokémon for my team." Ash said catching Riolu's attention. "Hm… what's with that look on your face Riolu?" He asked confused. Then he realized that he wasn't looking at him, or anything or one behind him. Ash looked around dumbly, but it seemed that Riolu's mind was off elsewhere.

"Come on! We've been looking for Vermillion for over ten, whole, days!" Misty cried only making Ash and little buddy sweat drop.

"Well I really can't figure out how to get back on the trail without the map." Brock said as he was searching through his backpack trying to find the map while muttering 'Come on, where is it?' to himself.

"Um, Brock?" Ash said catching his attention. "I use it last so it was in my bag." He stated after taking it out and laughing awkwardly. Brock face faulted after knowing who had it last. "Well this map doesn't really say where we are, but it looks like this path leads to Rout 24." He stated as he read the map.

"Does Route 24 lead to Vermillion?" Misty asked excitedly after hearing what Ash said.

"Well, of course it does. Come on Riolu." He stated then called over to his Pokemon who climbed up and sat on his shoulders happily.

"All right then let's going. Vermillion City here we… come?" Misty said as she stopped in front of a giant boulder. She looked at the top of the boulder and it looked like a little cute yellow and red fox turning its head from left to right.

"Who's that Pokémon?" She questioned seeing it turn its attention to the group.

"Hey Ash, you have a modified Pokedex right? Check and see if that is another from Sinnoh or Hoenn." Brock asked him as Ash pulled out Dexter to read.

"No data found. There are still some Pokémon out there to explore." He said not knowing what the fox was or where it came from.

"No data?" Ash questioned thinking that it must not be from Kanto, Sinnoh, or even Hoenn. Ash looked out to see the Pokémon now glaring at him. "Well, I guess I'm going to be asking Oak some questions about this." He stated as he was thinking of catching it.

"It looks in pretty bad shape." Misty stated now getting a good look at it.

"Maybe we should take it back to the Pokémon Center after catching it." Brock suggested.

Instead of turning his hat to catch it, he thought it wasn't necessary so just took out a Pokeball and tossed it at the Pokémon, only for it to repel it back. "I don't know, it looks to me. I really think I should just weaken it first." Ash stated seeing the thing look better than how Misty described it.

"N-no I don't think so, look at its heavy breathing, it clearly is in no shape to battle. Try the ball again." Brock suggested he did instead. Ash did was he was told, but he threw it so it wouldn't get repelled.

The Pokémon went inside this time but instantly broke free shattering the ball, making the gang cover their faces for protection.

"Okay, it's confirmed. This one's got attitude problems for sure." Misty said seeing the fox at like a jerk.

Riolu went up to the Pokémon and tried to make conversation, which was successful. Then he tried to form charades to tell his friends what it said. "Uh… a man… uh… asked… the Pokémon… to wait on the rock… to come back… and get it?" Ash said trying to make out what he was saying. Riolu gave a thumbs up telling him he was right.

"Wait, wait, wait, that Pokémon belongs to someone?" Misty questioned seeing it acted like a wild one.

"Well if it's waiting for someone, I think it's best to leave it." Brock stated. Ash just said that he hoped that its trainer comes back soon and left with his group, but couldn't help but feel bad for some reason.

After leaving the fox started to whimper for its trainer, hoping for him to come back soon. The gang managed to get to the Pokémon Center, but when it started to rain outside the phoneline went down so he couldn't call home, or even speak to Prof. Oak.

During their time in the Center, Ash was reading through a book about Pokémon from other regions trying to see if he could find anything, but alas no results to were found… yet. They got an order of soup but Ash didn't eat his nor did he feel hungry, he just kept reading the book sometimes stopping to look out the window seeing the rain fall.

"Hey Ash, are you okay?" Brock asked wondering why he was in the blue. "You seem a bit distracted today." He said after seeing what he was doing.

Ash just looked down with a look of guilt on his face. "I just… I really hope that, that Pokémon out there is okay. Do you think its Trainer came back by now?" Ash said while also feeling worried. Riolu then began to feel his emotions reading his Aura knowing how he really felt.

"Don't worry Ash, I'm sure that someone wouldn't be that cruel. I'm sure that its trainer has picked it up by now." Misty said trying to make Ash feel better. He did feel a little better as he turned his frown upside-down and nodded thankfully. Then they over-heard laughing at the table across them that had several kids about Ash's age (Maybe a little older) with a whole lot of Pokeballs on the table.

"Yeah, this Pokémon all belong to me, and rather smashing ones if I say so myself." One of the blue haired gloated. He had sunglasses, a brown vest, and what looked like a red scarf tucked in his green shirt which had a fire symbol on the front. Ash learned about his name when someone said his name was Damian telling him about how awesome he is… to him. But seeing that he had broken the rule of the six-limit number to Pokémon made Ash look at him in disgust, but he moved his attention back to the book, though he couldn't help but also listen to their conversation.

"Hold on Damian, didn't you used to have Charmander?" One of the boys asked him, seeing one of the several gone.

Damian then began to laugh as he stood up reaching into his pocket. "He's right here." He said as he pulled out a Pokeball releasing a Charmillion.

The kids looked at him in amazement at what he had on his team, for Ash he didn't bring Dexter out because he needed no explanation for the Kanto starters or their evolutions. He did read a lot before starting his journey.

"This is Charmander right her. Or should I say, Charmillion." Damian gloated again. Ash tried to ignore him but for some reason, he just couldn't. "I was on my way to the next Gym to get my badge when I spotted some strange Pokémon on a rock, my Pokedex must be broken because it didn't even know what it was." Hearing what Damian said caught Ash's attention completely now. "I have no clue what that Pokémon is what-so-ever, heck would I care seeing that weak thing wouldn't do much for team anyway, especially now that I have this guy." He said referring to his Charmillion who threw his fist in the air and roared out in honor.

'So, he knows about it too.' Ash thought to himself now knowing what he saw.

"Hey Ash, any luck on finding out what the Pokémon is?" Brock asked him as he went back to flipping pages then stopped at certain one.

"Oh, yeah, I think so." He said looking at the page below. Three Pokémon; a frog named Froakie, a buck tooth spiked one named Chespin, and finally, what he was looking for. "Okay, its name is Fennekin, it's known as the Fox Pokémon, and…" Ash was going to say but stopped as his eyes widened in shock seeing what the rest said.

"Ash?" Misty asked a little concerned. Then without warning he slammed the book down catching everyone in the rooms attention, then grabbing his hat and bolting out the door. "Where is Ash going?" Misty questioned seeing his actions.

Riolu picked up the book and handed it to Brock as he read what Ash didn't finish as he got the same shock he did. "Misty this is bad, that Pokémon out there is a fire type!" Brock shouted now scared out of his mind as Riolu and Misty got the same shock as well as they ran out the door behind Ash.

"Um… what was that about?" Damian asked as him, his Pokémon and his gang sweat dropped in confusion.

Ash was running through the cold and stormy rain not caring that he didn't have a coat with him, his main focus was to save Fennekin at all cost. When he found the fox, he saw it being attacked by a group of Spearow, he tried to fight them away to protect Fennekin. It barley had its eyes open seeing Ash heroically save it without even knowing what it was. Ash didn't have long before the Spearows began to fight back, damaging and ripping his vest and pants. After the fight, Ash got them away, he didn't think it would do much good but he took out his ripped vest and tried to cover up Fennekin with it. With that all done Ash rushed back to the Center not even thinking of slowing down one bit. Fennekin managed to open its eyes a little seeing Ash have many feelings in his eyes: Hate, sadness, guilt, worry, and fright. It didn't take long before its eyes fell shut closed again and everything went black.

Ash was now looking at Fennekin who was passed out through the window of the hospital room, the nurse told him it was girl which didn't really change a thing. He couldn't help but feel sadness, her trainer abandoned her and left her sitting on the rock for who-knows how long.

"You really feel bad for'er, don't'cha?" A familiar voice said behind him, he turned around to see that it was Damian standing there vestless. Ash didn't respond and just turned his attention back to the fox Pokémon. "A boy of passion huh?" He asked him, seeing his sad expression.

"It's just… her trainer… they said they'd come back for her… but…" Ash didn't finish as he just couldn't make out any words to say.

"I know what'cha mean." Damian said walking to Ash's side looking through the window of the other door. Ash turned his attention over to him. "Ya see, I've heard of its story. About a trainer promising their Pokémon that they'd come back…" Damian started to explain.

(FLASHBACK)

There was a trainer going through the same route taking out a Pokeball and releasing the Pokémon inside, then telling it to wait on the rock and promising it that they would come back. They left and headed for the Center up ahead, only saying the words… "I don't need a weak Pokémon like that." Hoping that they got rid of it.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

"That's the long and short of it." Damian finished. Something about this felt off to Ash, like he was acting out of character or something, of course he just shrugged it off. Damian walked away from the door and was about to go back to one of the spare rooms in the Center, but Ash stopped him with a question.

"Hey, why do you have so many Pokemon? You can't carry more than six you know." Ash asked still wanting to know why he had so many.

"Well in a way, having more than one Pokemon is something that I like to have, and I don't care whether it be against the rules or not." Damian stated. Before Ash could argue with him, he held his finger up before saying… "And before you say anything, having more than six means I don't have to send Pokemon back and forth from Old Oak to me." Defending himself.

Ash gave it a thought that did sound better than sending Pokemon back and forth, but then again, he wasn't one to break the rules. "You do know you can't use more than six at the League, right? They'll disqualify you." Ash stated.

"Well, I'll worry about that when I'm at the League, but that still has to wait." Damian stated defending himself. "And if I were you, I'd probably get new clothes after… whatever happened to you out there." He said seeing Ash's ripped outfit.

Ash looked at himself, his clothes were ripped of course, and he knew that a good trainer, would need clothes that aren't shredded. When he was in his room for the next set of clothes for him to wear, he did take off the destroyed vest and pants, for the new wear he had to change his hat and shoes, even if they weren't ripped. He might feel strange in new clothes, but his old clothes now belong in the trash.

Fennekin was sitting in her room, thinking about the human boy who saved her, she was wide awake and still covered in bandages after the Spearow attack. She couldn't get him out of her head, those eyes that she saw, and the way he saved without even knowing and the fact she was rude to him before, she began to feel her heart sink. She had these feelings, she just didn't know what kind they were.

"Fennekin?" A voice said from behind her. She turned around slowly seeing the same boy as before but he had changed.

His shoes were different, his pants looked less baggy making him look taller, he was also wearing black and red gloves instead of the usual green, his hat was different to, it had a white visor instead of red, and to top it all off, he was wearing a blue and white sweat-tea that the zipper stopped at part of his shirt showing the Pokeball symbol.

"Hey Fennekin, how are you feeling?" Ash asked her worried for her. She didn't respond she just turned her head back to the window, making him wonder what she was thinking about. "If you're thinking of going back to the rock and wait for you trainer, please don't do it." He said walking to her side and elbows on the bed.

She shot a confused look at him wondering what he meant when he said so. "Fen, Fennekin." She said. She knew he couldn't understand her, but it was something she just had to say.

"I know what you… well… I probably know how you feel 'bout, your trainer, but..." Ash was about to say something until he saw Fennekin walk over to the pillow and lay down on it. He decided that he wasn't going to argue, or as much think about forcing her to change her mind, so he just let her be and left the room.

'This human, saved me. But, why? Just, why?' She thought to herself as she was still trying to get him out of her head. "*Sigh*" 'I have to go back… even if it means I have to leave him behind. My said she'll come back for me, and I will come back.' She thought as she knew she wasn't going to change her choice.

(Next morning)

"AASSH!" A loud shrieking voice made Ash jump and fall off the bed.

"WHA-HUH-WHO!?" Ash yelled as he got in defense.

"Ash, it's horrible! Fennekin!" Brock shouted alerting him.

"Fennekin!" Ash yelled bursting through the door seeing the empty bed with Nurse Joy next to it. "Oh, no." Ash said as she could've only gone back to see her trainer that abandon her.

"I'm sorry, but… there's really no stopping her. You're gonna have to let her find out the truth on her own." Joy stated. Ash couldn't do anything, and he knew that Fennekin knew that he cared about her, but he just couldn't stop but feel bad for her.

She was right about Fennekin, Ash did want her to realize that her trainer abandoned, but that was for her to figure out.

Fennekin was walking down the dirt road heading back to the rock it came from, she was still covered in bandages but no injuries were on her legs thankfully. All of the sudden she stopped mid-way and looked back at the Center seeing Ash and his group leave, everything that trainer told her made her think, why would her trainer leave her on that rock for three days straight and not come back? She then thought back to how her trainer used to treat her, she used to pick on her and constantly tell her that she was weak, and would force her to go through harsh training whether she wanted to or not. She then found the meaning in what Ash was trying to tell her.

"And I thought that Fennekin understood that we cared… well you mostly Ash." Brock said feeling down.

"Fennekin knows that we care Brock, it's just that she is more loyal to her trainer then we thought." Ash stated. "I'm sure that when Fennekin finds the truth she'll find a better, more kind-hearted trainer." He said reassuring him that she'd be okay.

Then all of the sudden the ground began to shake causing them to stop walking to wonder what it was. Then everyone except Riolu fell in another hole, again. "Owwww…. My back." Brock groaned.

Riolu wanted to help them up, but was instead grabbed by something made out of metal then forced into a small glass container unable to escape. "Riolu, what's going on up there!?" Ash yelled up seeing him get snatched.

"I honestly can't believe they fell for that! I mean seriously, what kind of dopes are you?" Meowth's voice ran through his ears as he realized who it was.

"Team Rocket!" Ash was now angry and began to climb up the hole.

"This is our kind of tech here, we should have done this in the first place." Jessie said. Riolu couldn't preform any attacks because the container was too small for him to move, let alone did his cries for help became silent.

"Uh, guys?" Meowth said having a worried expression catching their attention. "Do you think, it wasn't a bad idea to make those rubber suits?" He asked looking behind them.

"What are you talking about Meowth!" James said looking behind him seeing a red and yellow fox. "Oh please. What's that gonna do, fry us?" He stated only to get a giant ember all around the teams' bodies. "Okay, it's yours!" He shouted dropping the container opening it then running off.

"It was nice to meet you!" Jessie said following his example. Meowth took one last look at the fox before clearing his throat.

"I'll see myself out." He said as he ran off with the rest of the group.

Ash, Riolu, Brock and Misty were amazed at what they saw, Fennekin saved their butts big time. "You… you came back." Ash said looking at the fire fox. Fennekin walked up to him, looking like it was waiting for something to be asked. Ash knew what it was and bent down to talk to her, and asked… "Fennekin, do you want to come with us?" And with that said she ran and then jumped into his arms, snuggling in his chest.

"Wow… haven't known it for a day and it already wants to be with you." A familiar voice spoke. The group turned to see a familiar face behind them.

"Damian." Ash said seeing the trainer walk up to them.

"I have to thank you though. Your kind heart did inspire me don't think this is over, I'm still gonna try to challenge the league, but this time, I'm gonna also make sure that my Pokemon get the care they deserve. And for that, I hope to see you in the league." He said holding out his hand.

Ash looked up to him, smiled, and took the hand saying… "I hope to see you again as well." Damian only nodded to his words.

And with that, the two continued their separate ways. Damian thought that Ash was tough trainer and deserved everything he had gotten this far on his journey, but for Ash, something felt off about Damian, like he was acting out of character or something. He shrugged it off and thought it was just him, as him and his group walked through Route 24 to Vermillion City. Inside Fennekin's ball, she was still thinking about her new trainer and the feelings she felt for him. She never understood those feelings and what they were, until now. And those feelings, were more than she bargained for.

You: WHERE'S FROAKIE! WHERE IS HE! HOW DARE YOU NOT BRING ASH-GRENINJA INTO THIS YOU SMUG SON OF A…!

Before you go and post anger reviews, I just wanted Ash's Journey to have it be a little tied to the real deal. I also didn't say he wasn't going to get Greninja, but still. Charmander is fire, Fennekin is fire, do you know what I mean? As for the Pokemon falling for humans, it's, a, joke. Also be prepared for next episode because that one is where there will be someone from another place coming to Kanto, and she has a little brother with her.