Road To Become A Pokemon Master

Chapter 16: Charmander, the Stray Pokemon

The group was making great progress to Vermillion City. It had been about two weeks since they left Cerulean City, and needless to say, they were ready to get back to a populated area. However, they were told they still had another week until they reached the city.

Ash and Serena had battled a few hobby trainers along the way to help their Pokemon grow. Ash and Serena had made sure to use their newly acquired Bulbasaur and Oddish, respectively, to test out their battle strengths. Both Pokemon had proved to be very capable in battle. Ash and Serena were happy to have them as part of the team now.

"Oh, we are finally getting close to Vermillion City. It will be by the beach. I can't wait to get a nice tan," Misty commented as the group walked along the forest path.

"Right. The route we are on right now intersects with Route 24 which will take us straight into Vermilion City," Brock agreed.

"That's where I'm going to receive my third gym badge!" Ash declared.

It was then the group noticed an enormous rock right in the middle of the path, casting a huge shadow. It wasn't the rock that got the group's attention, however, it was the Pokemon that was on top of the rock. It was a Charmander. Unlike Serena's Charmander, it appeared to be a male.

"Oh wow! A Charmander!" Ash exclaimed. "I remember when we were about to pick our first Pokemon at Professor Oak's lab, and I had really wanted to get a Charmander but wasn't able to."

"Oh, you wanted to get the Charmander, Ash?" Serena asked him nervously.

Pikachu also gave its trainer a questioning look.

Ash realized he had put his foot in his mouth and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Eheheheh. I mean…I had wanted a Charmander to begin with, but I am very happy with the way things turned out. Don't worry Serena. If I could do it over again, I would always let you pick Charmande so I could get Pikachu!" he said.

Pikachu and Serena decided that was acceptable and turned their attention back to the Charmander on the rock. "Well, Ash, this Charmander does appear to be wild so why don't you try to capture it?" Serena asked.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. He was just about to send out Pidgeotto, but Brock stopped him.

"Hold on," he said. "Take a look at the flame on its tail. It looks really weak. I don't think battling it is the best idea at the moment."

Ash looked at the Charmander again and saw the flame on its tail looked very small compared to normal. The Charmander was panting heavily and appeared to be very tired.

"I still have some medicine we made back at Melanie's cabin. I'll see if I can give it some," Brock continued.

He pulled out a small bottle of medicine from his backpack and went up to Charmander.

"Hey there, Charmander. I got some medicine for you that might make you feel better," Brock said gently as he held the bottle for Charmander to take.

Charmander stared at the bottle of medicine for a moment before quickly turning away. It didn't appear to trust these strangers.

"If it won't take medicine, I should try to capture anyway so we can at least take it to a Pokemon Center," Ash decided. He then took out an empty pokeball and threw it at the Charmander.