Pokémon Indigo League (Alternate from canon)

Charmander, The Stray Pokemon

(< > Is the translation of pokemon's speech , [ ] is the pokedex and bold are thoughts)

Our heroes have gotten a bit lost, and after reading the map, they see route twenty four is somewhat nearby so they head there. They come across a shiny Charmander on a large rock.

"Wow! A shiny Charmander! Charmander are already rare, but a shiny one is even more rare!" Brock said. Ash takes note of the low flame on it's tail. He asks Pikachu to "translate" Charmander. Pikachu comes back and says <Charmander is waiting for it's trainer to come back for it.>

Ash explains this in a way he "thinks" that's what Pikachu said. They decided to leave it be for it's trainer, but Ash feels guilty for leaving a Charmander with a low flame, so he decides he, Pikachu, and Eevee will stay with it, Charmander not objecting.

After a while, it's starts to rain, so Ash makes some umbrella with sturdy wood and large leaves. A large one for himself and one big enough for Charmander and his flame. Charmander was grateful and they head off, luckily, a pokemon center was nearby and they go in. Ash sends his pokemon and Charmander to the nurse, explaining how he came across Charmander and wants to have her check on him just to be on the safe side.

Nurse Joy agrees with the decision. It didn't take long for Ash's pokemon to come back, but Charmander wasn't in the best of shape, but the pink haired nurse praises Ash for doing the right thing just in time.

Misty and Brock saw Ash doing that and were relieved Charmander agreed to coming here. Ash was able to convince Charmander to come with him to the pokemon center when it started to rain lightly and to go before the storm got too heavy. Ash was staring at the counter where Nurse Joy usually is.

"Ash, what's wrong?" Brock asked gently. Ash snaps out of his small daydreaming and looks at Brock and Misty with a worried expression. "I think Charmander's trainer won't come back for him...and..I'm worried about him. The nurse said Charmander was in bad shape..."

Misty decided to try to cheer him up with "Don't worry Ash. Maybe it's an honest misunderstanding. And don't worry, Nurse Joy is the best at what she does." Ash smiled a little."Yeah, you're right. This is Nurse Joy we're talking about."

They hear a group of teenage boys laughing and talking. Damian, the blue haired boy, is a shiny hunter. He'll do nearly anything to find and/or get a shiny. And he does have a nice collection.

"Yo, I thought you had a shiny Charmander too?" One of the boys asked. Damian replied "Yeah, I had one, but it was so weak, it probably couldn't beat a Magikarp before said fish knows an actual attacking move." Ash had a look of disgust. He absolutely despises trainers like that guy. Abandoning a pokemon without proper treatment or training is just disgusting.

"So how'd you get rid of it?" Another guy asked, Damian replied with "Oh, I just left it on some rock in the woods." That shocked the gang, so he was responsible for Charmander being on the rock and being in that condition. Ash got more ticked when Damian made fun of Charmander for being "So stupid" so badly, he went to Damian and slapped him HARD across the face.

"Hey! What the heck was that for, brat?!" Damian exclaimed. "You go apologize to Charmander! He's in the ER!" Ash yelled, Damian was puzzled, but realized that Ash brought Charmander here and Damian looked ticked, yet cocky. "And why should I?"

Ash got in his face and said "You lied to your pokemon and it was willing to wait in the rain for you! Did you forget that it's tail flame goes out, it dies?!" Damian scoffed and says "That's not your business!"

Ash then shows him his pokedex, when they learn he's a junior professor for Professor Oak, the gang goes pale. They flee with the many pokeballs Damian showed off. Nurse Joy heard some of the racket and was puzzled. Ash explains what happened.