A/N Charizard is my favourite of all of Ash's Pokémon, by far the strongest and also disobedient for a while forcing him to become a better trainer. Unfortunately Ash being Ash he barely made any progress really.

Ash and his friends were making their way to Vermillion city, which was slowed down by them once again being lost. Ash had decided to look around, hoping to find a Pokémon he didn't already have.

But all he saw was Spearow.

It wasn't that he had anything against them, he would catch them normally, it's just that with Fearow it seemed like catching them was pointless. If he caught a weaker version of the same Pokémon he knew he would never have a good chance to use it.

"That's it; I can't take one more step! We've been looking for Vermilion city for days and haven't even gotten any closer" Misty whined as she collapsed on the ground from sheer exhaustion.

"Hey there's a bug on your" she jumped up landing on top of Ash who struggled to stay standing due to the surprising addition of her weight "Oh wait it's just a piece of grass" Brock said picking it up and laughing, his laughter only increased when Ash lost his footing resulting in the childish duo landing in a heap.

Misty stood up with a huff Ash following suit quickly. "Anyway according to the map, we should be near a Pokémon centre" Brock chipped in once again looking at the map.

"Great let's go then" Misty said already forgetting her earlier fatigue and charging in the direction of the centre.

Shortly after they began walking a storm began coming in. They ignored it at first simply putting on coat, but then a crack of thunder sounded making Misty let out a rare sound, a girly scream. "So um…guys if Ash's getting cold maybe we should set up camp for the night"

Brock looked at her then back at his map "I'm pretty sure we're near the Pokémon centre, less than a mile is my guess" she turned giving Brock a glare that made him recoil slightly.

"You've been saying that for how-Ow" she turned looking at the hard thing she just walked into. Ash also looked up and saw what it was that Misty walked into. It was a giant shadow, looking like a huge and menacing Pokémon with a dull flame at the top that seemed like eyes.

"I'm goanna catch it" Ash said preparing a poke ball and throwing it aiming for the fire. The ball bounced off followed by a crack of thunder and some lighting illuminating the area for a flash. This revealed to them all that what it really was a large rock with an orange lizard on top. "It's a Charmander"

"Yeah but it looks sick" it really did as it struggled to hide beneath a leaf for shelter curling into a small ball and shivering.

"It should have been captured" Ash said looking at the ball in his hand "That means it must have a trainer already, but why would he leave Charmander here all by himself?"

"I don't know but we can't leave him, if that flame on his tail goes out Charmander could be in real trouble" they all agreed quickly using Brocks coat to keep the water off of it as the charged in the direction of the Pokémon centre.

Fortunately they were actually quiet close as once they were over the hill they were able to see the centre at the bottom. This gave them new determination as Brock continued to use his body as a shield whilst running towards the Pokémon centre as fast as he could.

When they finally arrived at the Pokémon centre they were pleased to see that Nurse Joy was waiting at the desk. She jumped up immediately when she saw the Pokémon taking it from them and rushing through to the care rooms where she instantly began the various treatments for it.

Then all they could do was wait. It felt like they were in the waiting room for hours.

Brock in particular seemed anxious as he paced the floors muttering quietly. He continually said that Charmander would be happy and healthy again soon, clearly trying to convince himself more than anyone else. He seemed to feel bad, as if there was something he could have done to have helped Charmander sooner.

Ash tried to tell that there was nothing he could have done. That he did everything he could. But Brock didn't listen; he was too worried right now to think rationally.

Then Nurse Joy appeared in the doorway, her expression unreadable due to the mask over her face. She reached up slowly, carefully peeling it back. Brock looked like he was being tortured as he watched, waiting for some sign as to Charmander's condition.

Then finally they could see her smile.

That one simple gesture said it all; it made her next words almost redundant. "Charmander will be ok after a goods nights rest" they all let out a sign of relief when she said it though, that last little bit of confirmation that everything had gone well.

It was with this news that they were finally able to get to sleep. Ash fell asleep instantly, not use to being up so late. He wasn't sure but he suspected that they hadn't arrived until about nine then they were waiting for hours. He didn't bother checking the time since he found he really didn't care, and based on the gentle sounds of snoring neither did either of his companions.

The next morning Ash leaped out of bed. He was surprised to see that he was the last one up with Misty and Brock having left already. He walked out and found them enjoying a simple breakfast, Misty some cereal but there was other food stuffs on the table like eggs and a healthy supply of bacon and their Pokémon eating Brock's specially made Pokémon food out of their bowls. They seemed happy as the people and Pokémon alike chatted amicably about travel plans, this didn't interest Ash, he was sure the Pokémon would be talking about something more interesting whilst they ate but unfortunately he couldn't join in on that conversation.

He approached them yawning before taking his seat and moving some of the food towards himself. He was about to take his first bite of bacon when Nurse Joy burst into the room. "Charmander's gone missing"

Everybody in the room went tense at this, struggling with the idea of Charmander once again being in danger. Finally Brock spoke up "He must have gone to wait for his trainer"

Nurse Joy let out a sad sigh "Yeah that seems likely"

"Whys that a bad thing?" Ash asked once again trying to take a bite of his delicious bacon.

"I'm not sure, but I think I already know who Charmander's trainer is. He's a young boy named Damian, I see him around here a lot" Ash looked at her wondering why she didn't seem pleased with this information; they knew who to look for so they just had to find him and go. Seemed like great news to him.

"But from what I hear he won't be returning" they all turned their attention to her "Last time I saw him he said he was beginning his journey, that was about a week ago" she didn't have to say anything more for them to understand.

If he had left a week ago to start his journey with Charmander still sitting around on a rock all alone it could only mean one thing. He had abandoned Charmander. Ash looked to Brock for guidance but only got a depressed look in response. "Why would Charmander keep waiting after all this time?"

"He's probably still loyal to Damien, he might keep waiting for weeks before he finally gives up" Ash wasn't happy with this answer, he knew that Charmander couldn't afford to wait on that rock any longer. He wasn't sure how long he was there before but it had gotten him sick, and Ash refused to let Charmander be in danger again. He knew what he to do.

"We're going to see Charmander" they all nodded quickly forgetting there meal and rushing out the door to try and find Charmander again.

It wasn't hard to find him, he had returned to the rock that he was on before and looked the same as always. As they approached they noticed he looked sad, his tail flame was burning low once more despite Nurse Joy's healing him.

"Hey Charmander, how are you buddy?" Ash tried getting a weak 'char' in response; he petted the small Pokémon which responded by nuzzling into his hand happily. But Ash could tell he wasn't really happy. "We can't just leave him here"

Misty and Brock shifted awkwardly not knowing what to do themselves. Fortunately this didn't go on for long. "Charmander buddy" a dirt covered boy with blue hair jumped out of a bush hugging Charmander tightly whilst weeping.

"Um, who are you?" the boy continued to weep muttering about returning to see Charmander gone. "Are you Charmander's trainer?"

This time he did get a response as the boy looked up teary eyed and nodded. "We were separated, after we were attacked by Team Rocket" the trio gasped shocked by the news that Team Rocket was here as well.

"What happened?" Ash had already heard of Team Rocket, he knew they were bigger than the three idiots he had dealt with so many times already and was worried. If they had attacked Damien and Charmander once what was to stop them trying again.

"We were attacked, we had just started out journey and we were attacked" he turned to Charmander crying some more whilst hugging the Pokémon so tight it must have hurt a little. "I don't know why, they just said that they wanted Charmander"

"We tried to fight but they were to strong, in the end we were forced to separate. I told Charmander to wait here. That I would return" he cried some hugging the small Pokémon even tighter, Charmander let out a soothing 'char' trying to hug him back "But I was captured, they kept me at their base trying to get me to tell them where Charmander was and to give them my other Pokémon"

He paused for a long moment, looking down at Charmander and finally managing to stop crying "How did you escape?" Misty asked too concerned to wait for him to continue. Surprisingly this time he smiled.

"Well while I was in there I shared cell with a small little tadpole Pokémon, Poliwag" he lifted his hat revealing the happy Pokémon waving its tail from side to side "It was being dehydrated, so I had to use my water to keep it healthy" he explained as the small Pokémon continued to dance around happily, Brock looked at the tiny water type observing its behaviour and was pleased to see it appeared to be in great condition.

"Once he had gotten a little better, he did something weird. He just looked at the guard and then he let us out, we ran after that and got here" he paused turning and pointing to a small cave "When Charmander wasn't here I decided to camp in the cave to hide from the storm, I'm so glad nice people found him and took care of him" he launched himself at Ash and his friends weeping profusely and claiming that the trio were saints.

After that they went to the Pokémon centre where they told everything to an Officer Jenny and had Damien get washed up, he hadn't had a shower in almost a week and while no one wanted to say anything he was clearly in dire need of one. Poliwag decided to become Damien's Pokémon and it seemed like everything was perfect.

That was until Officer Jenny and the other police officers who went to investigate the Team Rocket base didn't return.

A/N

So Damien's personality got a complete change or if you read electric tales it's pretty similar instead. What happened to the police? Find out next time.

Title idea-thank you for the suggestion I appreciate it, small question is Ashton deliberately spelt like that. I didn't know Ash's name could be done like that if it is deliberate but it does sound good.

Guest-Yeah Squirtle is a Misty Pokémon in this, although since she shares with Ash he'll use it sometimes. When I had them share Pokémon I was hesitant since if they shared Pokémon like Ash constantly using Misty's Starmie that would seem like he was cheating sort of…this way that's avoided since Squirtle is his as well but Misty using it won't be her ignoring her own Pokémon in favour of Ash's either

I read over this chapter one more time than usual since it had been pointed out that my spelling and grammar isn't the best by a few people in PM's so I hope its better

Thank you for all the favourite, reviews and follows they are appreciated more that you might think

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